ILL
by SoftMynx
Summary: A Yaut'ja warrior steals a human female from Earth. What does he need her for? Thanx for all the love after all these years, guys!
1. Chapter 1

ILL

Chapter 1

Nia _hated_ her bartending job, especially so tonight. The classy lounge where she worked was unusually crowded and boisterous for a Tuesday night. The music was loud, thumping and irritating, and to top that off, the patrons were hardly tipping.

_Why do I let Kayla talk me into these things?_ She wondered to herself with a sigh.

Kayla was her best friend who had been working at the lounge for over three months before she successfully talked Nia to jumping on board. Since she was a part-time college student with monthly rent, car note and a bad movie rental habit, she needed the job. But Nia could do without the hassle.

"Hey there, sweet thang," crooned a very unattractive regular at the club.

_Speaking of hassle_…

"What can I get for you, Donnell?" she asked him dryly.

"Your digits for starters."

She tried to stop her lip from curling up in disgust but she was unsuccessful. Donnell had to be over forty year's old- not that that was bad. Denzel Washington and Johnny Depp were all forty or older and look at how sexy they were! But Donnell was no Depp or Washington by any stretch of the imagination. He was as scrawny as a toothpick, his hair was styled in some very kinky dreads, his clothes look like they had been slept in and the mouth full of gold teeth were certainly not a turn on- not for Nia anyway. She was so glad her mother taught her that she didn't have to be nice and sweet to everyone.

"No, you cannot have my phone number or anything else of mine. Now either order a drink or make room for the customer behind you." She snapped. Donnell gave her a rather hard and unappreciative glare, but he took the hint and walked away.

_Ugly bastard_. She said to herself. She couldn't understand for the life in her why that man hit on her every time he came in here. She had never so much as given him a second glance, so where did he get the notion that she'd ever go out with him? Why didn't the fool stick with the women on his own level? She easily answered her own question: _Because they don't want him either!_

A half-hour later the crowd at the bar had dimmed and Nia was ready for a break.

"Hey, Meagan, I'm gonna' take five out back," she said to the petite white girl who was working the other end of the bar.

"Okay," Meagan called back in her bright and bubbly voice. She was jealous of Meagan because she had a figure like a WWE diva- all legs and breast. Tonight she was dressed like a temptress schoolgirl with her blouse tied under her boobs and two ponytails on either side of her head. Nia would bet her paycheck that Meagan's bra, if she was wearing one, was stuffed with tips.

_Life sucks_, she thought as she headed for the back of the club. She herself had the body type of any other African-American female- hips, butt and a heavy bosom. She had tan-brown skin, honey-brown eyes and long, black hair that was shaded a lighter brown in some places by sun exposure and chemical relaxers. Tonight she was dressed casually in a black knee-length skirt that had splits on both sides and a purple, knit sweater with a V-neck cut in the front- not at all sexy enough to win big tips.

She stepped out into the alley behind the club and leaned against the door, trying to unwind from the hectic night. All the club employees enjoyed taking their breaks back here as was evident by the many cigarette butts that littered the ground. The evening air was cool and a bit damp because it had rained the night before. Puddles of water still had not completely evaporated. The big dumpster across from the back door had been emptied, so the alley didn't stink as bad as usual. She had fixed for herself a strawberry daiquiri before she left the bar and she was enjoying it thoroughly when she suddenly heard a low growling sound echoing through the air. She instantly came to attention.

"Anybody there?" she called, looking about but finding nothing to confirm the sound. She glanced at the beverage in her glass and wondered if she had mixed in too much rum. Shrugging, she dismissed the sound as liquor-induced paranoia and poured the remainder of the drink out on the ground. She was about to go back inside when she spotted a shape step out of the shadows.

Nia gasped and reached for the door handle, but was yanked away. The glass fell from her hand and shattered on the concrete ground as she was being dragged to the other side of the alley. The figure slammed her back against the wall so hard that her teeth clattered together. A dim, overhead light illuminated the face of her attacker.

"Donnell!" She both exclaimed and questioned. _Donnell makes growling noises?_ "You scared me half to death! What do you think you're doing?"

"Taking what's mine!" he shouted back and she stared at him oddly.

"Excuse you?"

"Better yet, I'm takin' what you got between your legs!" His foul breath confirmed that he was drunk.

"The only thing you're _taking_ is your hands off of me!" she shrieked as she struggled to get out of his grasp.

"No, you're gonna' give me what I want right here and now." Donnell demanded, shaking her. "I'm tired of playing nice. I asked you out, but you kept turning me down. What? You think you're too good for me or somethin'?"

"I don't think it, I _know_ it!" She retorted, then promptly kicked him hard in his groin with her knee. The man yelped in pain and doubled over.

"Bitch!" he growled between clenched teeth, but she only cared that he had let her go. She pushed him out of the way and ran up the alley, realizing too late, though, that she should have run _across_ the alley to the back door of the club. But she was reacting on adrenaline at the moment and not common sense.

"You're gonna' to pay for that!" Donnell promised coming up behind her. She spun around, surprised that the man had recovered so quickly, and came face to face with a .38 pistol. Her heart missed a beat.

"Yeah, you ain't so tough now, are you?" he gloated. "Take your clothes off!"

Her eyes widened in utter fear. "What?"

"I said take off your clothes!" Donnell shouted, rage palpable in every word. "I'm tired of you stuck-up women looking your noses down at me like I ain't no better than dirt. I'm gonna' screw you until you bleed, then I'm gonna' screw you some more!" He bragged, using his free hand to undo his belt and then his zipper. Nia backed up slowly, shaking her head in protest as well as in disbelief.

Donnell fired off a warning shot and she screamed, placing her hands over her ringing ears. "Hey college girl, I'm talking to you! Come out your clothes, now!"

_College girl? How did he know that? Is he the one that's been following me?_ On several occasions over the past few weeks she had had the strongest feeling that she was being followed and watched, especially when leaving the club at night. However, when she looked around, she never saw anyone. Was she going insane?

"I ain't askin' you again, bitch!" Donnell shouted. His eyes were wide and glazed over in a crazed expression and his gun hand was shaking, probably from a mix of his own adrenaline and the booze he had engulfed.

Nia could remember watching scenes like this on TV or reading about them in mystery novels and she'd always wonder how she'd react if death were staring her in the face. Well, she'd be damned if she'd help the prick rape and kill her by lying down on the ground helpless and naked. She'd die with a lot more dignity than that! Nia didn't remove a stitch of clothing. Instead she stared Donnell directly in his wild eyes and waited for the shot that would end her life.

But that shot never came.

Out of the blue, Donnell's chest exploded outward as if someone else had shot him from behind. But she had not heard a gunshot, only the awful splitting sounds of metal piercing flesh and bone. A warm liquid splashed across her face. She wiped it away and looked at her palms, knowing even in the faint light that it was blood.

Fear gripped her.

Donnell was lifted off the ground by an invisible force. His body began shaking violently, attempting to fight death. The gun in his hand went off repeatedly at no particular target until it was empty. Nia screamed. A burning sensation erupted high up on her left arm, but she was too hysterical to notice it or the blood that trickled from the wound. When Donnell lost all muscle control, the gun fell out of his hand and clattered to the ground. Soon his death spasms ceased altogether and his body flew off to the side where it crashed into the cement block wall and drop to the ground with a sickening thud. She didn't realize that she had been backing up until she bumped into another wall of the alley. Her arm felt like it was on fire and her breaths were coming in ragged gasps. She had stopped screaming but only because she was too petrified and hoarse to continue.

Then there was a thump, then another and another. All of a sudden, not ten paces in front of her, a puddle of water splashed upward, as though a big, invisible stone had been dropped into it. The crackling sound of electricity ignited in the air. Nia looked all around, her heart jolting with each thump, but she couldn't see anything. Another rain puddle exploded just four paces away and Nia realized that those thumping sound were footsteps. Someone else was in the alley! Someone she couldn't see that had just killed Donnell and now was coming for her. A large someone by the sound of those steps. Paralyzed with fear, Nia was more afraid now than when Donnell had held the gun on her.

The thumps stopped. She could just make out a distortion of light directly in front of her. The far end of the alley looked misshapen, as if she were peering through the bottom end of a drinking glass. Without warning, the transparent distortion moved and she cringed back against the cold, damp wall that barricaded any possible escape. Her heart slammed against her rib cage as if it were trying to break free. She waited for whom or whatever it was that killed Donnell to butcher her too. Instead, the crystalline shape solidified. No, not solidified- _visualized- a_nd what stood before her made her breath catch in her throat.

The being was at least eight feet tall, but fear had a way of making things appear larger. It had smooth, tube-like extensions that began at a large head and stretched all the way down to the creature's elbows. Its barrel-chest, broad shoulders, abdomen, arms and legs were thick with muscle. The upper part of its torso was covered in a body armor that Nia knew was not of this world. A net-like material enveloped the parts of the creature that the armor did not. If it had a gender, she guessed it to be male since the groin area was cloaked in an armor-type loincloth. Around its waist was a large utility belt and she shuddered to think what kind of weapons were carried there. Even its back and lower arms were loaded with equipment. Nia deduced that he had to be super strong in order to support all of that gear plus his own weight. Lastly, the creature's face was concealed in an odd mask with no mouthpiece. She tried not to think about what kind of horrid appearance was hidden behind that mask. At least now she knew what had been following her and why she never saw it.

The creature just stood in front of her staring down at her, its chest rising and falling as it breathed. It made her feel self-conscious and she wondered if the monster could see straight through her skin. When it tilted its head downward somewhat, she felt that it was focusing on her lower abdomen and she instinctively placed a hand on her pelvis as if she were protecting an unborn fetus. The gesture would have made sense if she was pregnant, but she wasn't. In fact, she was barren. But she wasn't reacting on logic right now, only on mind-numbing terror. Why hadn't Meagan or any of her other co-workers come out here to check on her? Hadn't someone heard the gun shots and at least called the police?

Suddenly, a hand with fingers as thick as a water hose, and twice as long as any of Nia's, reached out to her. She cowered in fear, bending her knees in an attempt to move away from its touch. She was sure that that hand was about to strangle her to death, or worse. Instead it stopped to rest on the top of her head and softly caressed her full, black hair. The creature maneuvered a tress between his thumb and fingers and fondled it. The action was so unexpected that she glanced up at the dark eye-ports of the mask in complete confusion. He was about to stroke another section of her hair, but she dodged out of his way and squealed in fear.

His hand paused in midair and Nia was sure that he was about to slap the stew out of her. However, the creature pulled its hand back and reached into a pocket of his belt. Whatever he retrieved was concealed in its large hand, yet with a speed that she never would have believed a being of his size could possess, he pushed the object against her neck. She felt a sting of pain and heard a slight hissing noise. She cried out in pain and rubbed at the spot where she was stung.

Nia had had enough. She had not survived an attempted rape and a gunshot wound only to be killed and mutilated by this…this…beast! She'd crawl between its legs to get away if she had too! Nia steeled her back and straightened up, but before her knees could lock in place she lost all feeling in her legs and collapsed. But before she could hit the ground, an extremely powerful arm caught her about her waist. She tried to push out of his grasp, but his strength was unbelievable. He was holding her with about as much effort as she would hold a toothpick. To make matters worse she was growing weaker by the second.

Her gunshot wound had stopped burning and throbbing and the alley began to spin. She knew she was about to pass out, but she fought against the urge to do so. Whenever her lids closed she forced them back open again and even when they rolled upward into her head, she still tried to remain awake by rubbing at them. She pounded at her captor's chest-plate, screaming at it to let her go, but it didn't. A foreign, electronic noise emanated from behind the creature's mask. Nia glanced at the face screen, bewildered. She was certain that the sound had a speech-like quality to it and although she had no clue as to what it said, she had an inkling that the creature was telling her it was useless to struggle.

_Why doesn't he just kill me and get it over with? What does he want with me?_

She shook her head vigorously in an attempt to stay awake. She tried to cry out again, but now all she could manage was a feeble whimper. She fell against that huge, barrel chest, suddenly unable to control her own limbs. Her weight was supported completely by the creature. A sensation of flying swept over her, though in actuality the creature had lifted her off her feet. She didn't even feel its powerful arms underneath her legs and back, nor was she aware of the impact of his heavy-booted feet on the ground as it carried her away.

Nia managed one last moan of protest before she completely blacked out...


	2. Chapter 2

Greetings and salutations to all. Thank you so much for the kind reviews. I was so afraid that no one would like my story, but I have yet to received one bad review. Then again, I haven't completed the story yet! I hope this chapter is also well received. BTW, ignore any spacing errors. That's not me, that's the damn document manager! Grrr!! Anywho, enjoy....and please remember, we writers live for reviews!

Nia could not completely wake up but she was aware enough of the unfamiliar sounds around her to know that she wasn't in her apartment. She was lying flat on her back on a soft bed in a dimly lit room. Her clothes had been removed, but her body was covered with a smooth fabric. She tried to move her arms and legs, but they felt like weights had been tied to them. Fortunately, there weren't any restraints across her chest, arms or ankles, but what good would restraints do anyway if her extremities felt like boulders?

She heard heavy footsteps approaching and her body went rigid with fear. Seconds later the creature from the alley was standing on her left. The bed was waist- level to the creature and she could practically feel its strength and superiority. Nia braced herself for imminent torture.

The sizable hand of the creature gripped her arm and lifted it off the bed. A cold wetness touched her skin, startling her. Nia tried to pull away, to scream, but her body was not cooperating in the least. The monster was about to amputate her arm and there was nothing she could do about it!

The cold began to fade into a dull sting, then suddenly Nia remembered that she had been shot in that arm. But what was the creature doing to her? She felt a velvety cloth being encircled around her arm several times and then was tied off. Was he tending to her wound? Why in the world would he do that? Nia felt the stinging wilt away until there was no sensation at all. She wished the effects of the drug would wear off as fast so that she could make an escape attempt.

The creature began smoothing the sheet flat over her belly, snapping Nia back to her current problem. She then felt a box-shaped device being pressed lightly against her abdomen.

_Now what? _Nia wondered as the gadget was swept side to side across her body. She felt a soft vibration on her flesh wherever it moved over her. The creature worked its way down her lower torso, even sweeping over her pubic area. Nia cringed, glad that there was a sheet between her nakedness and the machine. When the creature removed the box from her body and stomped away from the bed, Nia allowed herself to relax a little.

So far the torture had been painless, if not unnerving, but the worse part was that she didn't know what else he had in mind. She tried again to move her limbs, but she could only wiggle her fingers. Even her eyelids wouldn't stay open for long. What kind of drug did he give her that could immobilize her body, but not her mind?

_Focus, Nia, s_aid the little voice of survival in her head. _You have _got_ to get out of here! _But how? She couldn't move and she could barely stay awake!

The creature returned shortly and Nia heard a clanking noise at the foot of the bed. The coverlet was pushed up her legs to her waist, and then her left foot was placed in a stirrup, followed by the right foot, causing her elevated knees to bump together. Nia's fear factor was rising. She tried to squirm about on the bed but couldn't keep the motion up for very long. She felt her toes wiggle in the strange stirrups and her lids fluttered, but that was about all. The drug still had a potent effect on her.

She wanted to get a look at her surroundings, maybe find the exit, so she tried again to open her eyes. It took more than one try, but finally her lids remained open and she could get a view of the room. It was dimly lit. The lights that she did see had a strange orange glow to them. There were holographic monitors in the peripherals of her vision, high up on the wall, but she couldn't see what was on the screens. Her vision was starting to go hazy, so Nia stopped trying to see to her left, blinked repeatedly to clear her eyesight and glanced up. The darkness above her was so thick that she couldn't even make out the ceiling. Maybe if there was a light above her she could focus on that instead of the panic that was bubbling up in the pit of her stomach.

All of a sudden, the darkness slid apart to the right of the bed and her gaze automatically traveled in that direction. An orange-white glow shone into her eyes, temporarily blinding her. She blinked the stinging sensation away and discovered that a set of doors on that side of the room had opened. Three beings similar to the one in the alley were exiting through those doors, only these were slightly smaller in frame and more graceful in their movements. Nia guessed that they might be females, but why were they leaving? Was that good news or bad news for her? And she still hadn't figured out why her feet were in stirrups, yet alone why she was naked from the waist down.

The doors slid closed with a soft hiss, but Nia could still sense the presence of one individual still in the room. Her pulse began to race. She didn't even know that others had been in the room with the creature from the alley, but now that they were gone she was scared out of her mind as to what would happen next. Several anxious minutes droned by, although Nia had no way of knowing how many. But when she heard the heavy footsteps coming her way again, she wished the minutes would tick on forever as she lay on the bed by herself. She wanted to scream, kick, spit- do something! But all she could accomplish was a grunt of aggravation.

The footfalls stopped right next to her and Nia found herself staring up at the same creature in the alley. He was still wearing his mask and that odd netting, but all of the gear that had been strapped to his back and arms were gone. He stood staring down at her, not moving for a short while, assessing her, Nia supposed. She wished she could look in his eyes, if he had any, and deduce what it was thinking, but regrettably, she could see nothing through those dark eyeports. She saw his arm raise again, then his big hand rested on her forehead. Nia's brows crinkled in confusion. If she didn't know better, that gesture seemed an awful lot like a caress. No, a monster like the one that had killed Donnell so viscously couldn't possibly be trying to set her at ease.

Nia forced her neck muscles to obey and she tossed her head to the opposite side, causing the creature's large hand to slip off her forehead, but it replaced his hand where it was before and this time he stroked her hair. Nia wanted to shake him off again, but she was too drained to move again, but she did manage a whimper of grievance.

The being turned away from the high bed and stalked away, only to return a bit too soon than Nia had hoped. His hand went to her neck and she heard a hiss and felt a familiar sting of pain.

_Not again_, Nia thought.

But no sooner than the words were out of her thoughts, her limbs began to feel heavier than they had before. He must have given her a bigger dose because the drug was working faster than it had previously. Nia let the medicine have its way with her. She new it would be useless to fight. Besides she didn't want to be awake while the thing tortured her for its unknown purposes. Her sense of touch was still working, however, because she could feel him stroking her forehead and hair again, which he continued to do until her fist unclenched, her muscles slackened and her mind drifted into another slumber.


	3. Chapter 3

I have one disclaimer, though. I know that the word "Yautja" is commonly spelled without an apostrophe between the "t" and the "j", but I put it there anyway because I think the apostrophe makes the word look and feel more alien. So no flames about the apostrophe, please!

Nia slowly dragged her eyes open and found herself in a bed completely different from the first. It was just as soft and comfortable, but it was at floor level, with off-white linens and fluffy white pillows. For that brief second between asleep and awake, Nia thought that she was in her own bed. She groaned groggily, rubbed the back of her hand across her lids- and gasped. Her arms and legs no longer felt like lead weights! She could move as freely as she could before all of this began. The wound on her arm felt itchy, though. Nia scratched at it as she sat up in bed.

She threw the covers off of her legs, only to cover herself up again. She was still naked. Why wouldn't the creatures re-dress her? She glanced around, hoping to find her clothes and shoes, but what she saw instead was a very spacious room. There was a kitchenette to the left with a small, round metal table with three chairs. About ten feet from the foot of the bed was the entryway. Nia had watched enough movies to know that it was most likely locked, so she didn't bother with going over to it. To her right there was a lounge chair, a desk with a lamp on it and another door between the two pieces of furniture. Nia wrapped the top sheet under her arms and clutched it to her chest, then stood up from the bed and crossed the room, dragging the remainder of the sheet behind her.

She was surprised to find the floor was carpeted, but the room was too dimly lit for her to tell what color. When she was a half step away from the door, it slid open with a soft whisper. Nia yelped in fright. She wasn't expecting it to do that, and what's more, she wasn't expecting a light to come on and illuminate a bathroom! Her surprised quickly changed to joy because she realized that she needed to pee. She made her way to the toilet, sat down and relieved herself.

Nia had passed by a face bowl with different sized towels draped across it on the way to the toilet. There was another door to her left and after trying it, Nia learned that it was a shower stall, which she utilized after her bladder was empty. She let the hot water run over her skin for an immeasurable amount of time before turning the water off and drying herself. The soft bed, the towels, the bathroom- someone had gone through an awful lot of trouble to make her feel comfortable. What the heck was going on around here?

Given that the sheet was the only covering she had, Nia again draped it around her body. As she did so, she noticed that her breast felt unusually heavy and that her nipples were tender. Maybe it was close to that time of the month. Still, she wished that she had a bra to put on to relieve some of the discomfort.

_What in the world did those creatures do with my clothes?_ she wondered as she walked to the door that was already sliding apart. As she left the bathroom, Nia's feet got tangled in the mass of fabric. She endeavored to unravel herself and yank the entire sheet out of the way before the door closed, which is why she didn't immediately notice the other individual in the room.

"Ahh, you have come out! How do you feel?"

Nia screamed, swung around and tumbled back against the bathroom's door, which swished open suddenly, causing her to fall flat on her rump.

"Oh, I am sorry. I did not mean to frighten you. Are you all right? Let me help you up."

Nia looked up into the metal face of what was obviously a robot, built with ingenuity and precision to look human, but the dark-gray metallic coverings told a different story.

"Who the hell are you?" Nia demanded, ignoring its outstretched hand and scrambling from off the floor.

"I am a Translation Bot, among other things, designed by the Yaut'ja to assist them in communication with you." the metal man said proudly.

"Created by who?"

"The Yaut'ja."

Nia's eyes widened in understanding. "You mean that monster that kidnapped me and has been holding me hostage?"

"I suppose that if I were in your position I would call them that. But let me assure you, they are not monsters. They are a proud and honorable race of sentient beings."

"Sentient beings do not drug and kidnap helpless women and drag them-" Nia paused and looked around the room as if for the first time. "Where the heck am I?" she finished.

"You are in one of the many cities, on one of the many homeworlds of the Yaut'ja. I have tried to translate the name of this Yaut'ja city into your language, but I have not been successful."

"I take it that this homeworld isn't in the Milky Way galaxy."

"Far from it."

"So, how did I get here?"

"You were brought here in a- how shall I put this? A space ship? Is that term familiar to you?" the robot asked.

"Great," Nia grumbled, not knowing whether to believe him or to just go with the flow until she woke up from this nightmare. "Well, since you are my interpreter, how about you translate this for me: I WANT TO GO HOME!"

"But you can not go home." protested the robot. His eyes even showed anxiety.

"Why not?"

"I am sure you must have a million questions and I will try to answer them all. But first, I bet you would like to get out of that sheet." he suggested. Nia looked down at herself, suddenly remembering what she was covered with. The robot turned around, his mechanical joints whining in the process, and walked across the room. Nia followed, but she bumped into the bed along the way.

"Dang it, why is it so dark in here?" she shrieked in exasperation.

"Forgive me. I forgot that humans need more light to see by than the Yaut'ja. Lights!"

The room brightened.

"There is something for you to clothe yourself in on the bed," the robot said, gesturing to where a garment lay with Nia's brazier and panties on top. "I shall turn my back while you dress, not that I am capable of being aroused, mind you."

Nia stifled a laugh as she slipped into her underwear, then the article of clothing. It was an ankle-length tunic with splits on both sides up to her thighs. The collar was V-neck and she could tie it about her waist with two string ties. Now that she'd had a shower and was clothed, she felt more at ease.

"There are some slippers over here," the robot informed, pointing to the side of the bed. "Does your bandage need changing?"

"It's fine." Nia replied. She had, in fact, taken it off before she got into the shower, then put it back on after she dried off, but she didn't bother explaining that to the robot.

"What is all of this?" she asked, slipping her feet into the shoes and tossing the flat sheet haphazardly aside. "Why are you being so nice to me?"

"It is in my programming to be sociable, to answer the later question," the robot explained as he remade the bed. "But I did not prepare all of this. I am, after all, just an artificial intelligence. The Yaut'ja had all this done. They have been watching you for weeks."

"But why?"

"All will be explained momentarily," the robot replied and walked to the table now that the bed was to his satisfaction. "Please, come sit and eat. I prepared vegetable beef soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for you. And there is orange juice, too."

Nia was eager to get her questions answered, but the robot was being so pleasant that she didn't have the heart to argue. Plus, the smell of the food was already awakening her appetite and pulling her to the table. Nia pulled out a chair across from the robot and sat down.

"So what's your name?" she asked after she began eating.

"I do not have a proper name like you humans."

"Then how do you know when someone wants to talk to you?"

"That someone would be looking at me, I imagine." the robot replied plainly.

Nia could only blink repeatedly at the logic of his answer. "Are there others like you?"

"Yes, a dozen to be exact."

"How do you tell each other apart?"

"We all have model numbers. In your language my model number is J-7-6-7-8-3-0-6-9-A-5-5-3-5-6-1-9-4-X-0-0-2-1-4-7-9-2."

"Sorry I asked." Nia mumbled and was silent while she finished her meal.

"Jax!" she unexpectantly shouted aloud.

"I beg your pardon?"

"You mentioned three letters in you model number," Nia explained. "J-A-X. Jax."

"Jax." the robot repeated, trying it out. "I like it. You may designate me Jax."

"Jax, it is. I'm Nia, by the way."

"I know. Prae'tor has spoken of you often. He has told everyone how he had to keep drugging you on the trip through space because you kept fighting to stay awake."

"Prae'tor?"

"The Yaut'ja that brought you to us, of course."

"It has a name?"

"Why, yes. All the Yaut'ja have names, just like you humans."

"That thing is nothing like us!" Nia suddenly snapped, slamming her clenched fist down on the metal table. "We don't go around killing people and kidnapping helpless women!"

"If Prae'tor had not killed that man, you would be dead." Jax reminded her. Nia's eyes widened in shock.

"You know about that?" she asked.

"Of course. Prae'tor brought his severed head back as a trophy and told the story to all the warriors. He said you stood up to the man like a Yaut'ja soldier, even though the man held a firearm on you."

Nia gasped. "He did what?"

"He hung the man's head in his training room, as a matter of fact. If you want I will ask Prae'tor if it is all right to take you to see it."

"I don't want to see that!" Nia shrieked, disgusted at the mere mention of a severed human head hanging on a wall. Donnell was a worthless weasel that tried to rape her, but he didn't deserve that. Twenty years in prison maybe, but not that.

"As you wish." Jax relented. "But you are correct about one thing. The humans and the Yaut'ja are not alike. The Yaut'ja would never kill one of their own, or try to ravish a female, unlike some humans who seem to enjoy causing others pain, especially those they deem inferior."

Nia shot out of the chair, rushed away from the table and flopped down on the bed in agitation.

"I have upset you. I sincerely apologize." Jax said.

"You're damn right I'm upset! I'm being held prisoner by a bunch of alien… psychopaths!" she shrieked. "I'm beyond upset. I'm officially pissed off."

"I know. I can identify the prominent stress patterns in the flare of your nostrils, your dilated pupils, your heavy breathing and in your accelerated heart rate. But, please, try to remain calm." Jax cautioned.

"Why?" Nia asked hotly, jumping off the bed. "Because if I don't Prae'tor will do to me what he did to Donnell?"

"Of course not! Prae'tor is an honorable warrior. He would never go against his code and attack an unarmed female."

Nia harumphed and began pacing back and forth beside the bed. "Yeah, right."

"Still," Jax continued, rising from his seat at the table, ambling over to Nia and clutching her arms in his robotic hands. "You really need to calm yourself and sit down."

"Why do you keep saying that!" Nia screamed and shook herself out of his grasp to resume her march. "I've been shot as well as kidnapped. I don't know where I am _or _how I'm going to get out of here and you want me to _calm down_?"

"Yes, Nia." Jax affirmed. "It would be best if you settled down."

"Why?"

Jax didn't answer right away, but after watching his charge pace and stomp in agitation for a moment longer without any clue how to get her to stop he announced, "Because you are pregnant."

Nia stopped dead in her tracks and gaped at him.

"WHAT?"

"You are pregnant and since you are distraught, I can hear that the fetus' heart rate has suddenly become irregular. So, please, sit back down and try to unwind for a minute."

Nia did him one better. She closed her eyes and completely passed out.

Chapters will follow, so please stay tuned. Tell me what you think of Jax in your reviews! Oh, btw, I do plan on writing some of youback. Just be patient with me, I have a lot on my plate! Kisses!!!


	4. Chapter 4

Warm greetings to all! Here's chapter 4 and 5. If you guys knew thetrouble I went through to get these chapters out of my head and onto paper, you wouldn't be so mad at me for taking so long. It's not as easy as you think, but I hope you like the progression of the story. And thank you all for your kind-hearted reviews. Keep them coming even if you don't like my story, just benice. Oh, and to all of you Stargate SG1 fans out there, be on the look out for my Stargate SG1fanfic. I'll post it real soon! Okay, I'm done...

Chapter 4

Nia could feel herself waking up, but she fought the urge to do so. She wanted to stay unconscious, to stay in the blackness of oblivion because here, there were no giant, reptilian-like monsters dragging her away from everything she knew. Here, there were no talking and intelligent robotic machines saying that her body could now do things that it couldn't do before. Here in oblivion, there was peace.

"I think she is coming around." she heard Jax say, but she didn't know if he was talking to her or to himself. She felt his cool, metal fingers squeeze her hand. "Nia, can you hear me?"

She moaned.

"You gave us quite a scare when you fainted." Jax continued. "I did not even realize that I could _get_ scared until that moment. But that is besides the point, is it not?"

_This isn't happening. _Nia told herself. _This is all a bad, bad dream._ But that ridiculous robot wouldn't shut up and let her be.

"You bumped your head when you fell-" which explained why the back of her head was pounding. "-but fortunately you sustained no injury and the baby is fine as well." Nia's eyes popped open and she shot up straight in bed. Her head throbbed even worse because of that sudden action, but she ignored the pain as well as the feeling of vertigo.

"Okay, joke's over. I want out!" Nia exclaimed, swinging her legs out of bed and standing up.

"No, no, you must not get up yet." Jax protested, grateful, at least, that she hadn't kicked him in her rush to get out of the bed. "You had a nasty fall and the baby-"

"I'm not carrying a baby!" Nia screamed at him. "I'm barren. I can't get pregnant!" Unnerved by her screeching, Jax grasped her arms and urged her back down on the bed. Nia had a passing thought that he was getting very good at that.

"If you are going to yell, fine," he said sharply. "But you are going to do it sitting down. If you lose this baby Prae'tor will have my parts melted down and fashioned into a throwing glave, or something worse." The robot stooped down, clutched her feet and lifted them onto the bed.

"But I'm not pregnant." Nia insisted.

"Denial is a common human response to untimely and unwanted information." Jax related, settling himself into his own seat.

"No, you're not listening to me, Jax." Nia snapped. "I'm _barren_. That's human for 'my oven can't bake'!"

The robot actually chuckled. "You humans have such odd expressions. But I will humor you, if that will keep you calm. Why can you not get pregnant?"

Nia ignored the patronizing tone in his voice and said, "When I was three years old, I got really, really sick with some rare disease that I can't even pronounce. I almost died, but thanks to some kind of innovative drug my doctor found I pulled through, but not before the infection destroyed my ovaries."

"It is true that your ovaries were incredibly damaged due to the malady, Nia. Your human doctor got that part right." Jax agreed. "However, we were able to find several viable ovums inside you and we implanted one into your uterus, since your fallopian tubes are impaired as well."

"That's impossible. My doctor had ex-rays done on me just last year and he said that I had no healthy eggs in either of my ovaries." Nia countered.

"Well, maybe he was not looking hard enough." Jax replied snidely. "But I promise you that _we_ found several. It was quite a search, but still-"

"I don't believe that my doctor was lying to me."

"Why?" Jax countered. "Is he an exception to the human species and is incapable of lying?"

"Don't be a smart-ass!" Nia snapped. Jax sighed.

"Listen, I know that all this may be hard for you to take in, especially after years of being told you will never be able to conceive. But trust me, Nia, you _are_ pregnant."

"So, let me get this straight." Nia began, her voice heavy with disdain. "You people stalk me, kidnap me, drug me, cut me open…" she ticked each item off on her fingers as she spoke. "…did only God-knows-what to my reproductive system- all without my permission, by the way- and to top it off, you're telling me that I'm pregnant?" It was more of a statement than a question. Nia thought that she could almost see the gears in Jax's artificial brain churning as he contemplated her words.

"I do not like this expression _cut open_," he finally replied. "But other than that, your analysis of the situation is fairly accurate."

Nia sighed, shut her eyes and rubbed at her temples with both hands. All of a sudden, a thought that should have occurred to her at the beginning of this conversation struck her like a ton of bricks.

"Wait a second!" she shrieked. "Who's the father?"

The robot appeared shocked. "Why Prae'tor is, of course." Jax replied, as if the question was the dumbest he'd ever heard. He gestured to a dim corner of the room where a humanoid form stepped out of the shadowy area on the far side of the room by the entryway. Nia's eyes widened as she saw the monster that was the start of all this mess come into the light. Her jaw dropped in shock and in fright.

"WHAT?" she screamed, bounding up off the bed yet again. "You're telling me that…that…"she struggled to come up with an appropriate term. "…_beast_ raped me and got me pregnant?" She heard a low grumbling sound and Jax shifted his mechanical eyes to regard the eight and a half foot tall Yaut'ja.

"Yes, she does have quite the flair for the dramatics." Jax agreed with Prae'tor and Nia's eyes narrowed at the robot in anger.

"You think this is funny?" she spat. "You're screwing around with my life and then have the nerve to sit there and laugh!"

"You are right. Now is not the time for teasing." he apologized, losing his grin just as fast as he'd found it. "But you are very high-strung, Nia. We need to work on that if you want this baby is to be born healthy. Now, please, sit down." Prae'tor took a step closer and she instantly plopped back down onto the bed.

"As I have said before, Prae'tor is a warrior of honor. He did not rape you." Jax revealed. "You were artificially inseminated with his sperm."

That, at least, explained why her feet had been placed in stirrups. Still, Nia couldn't stop her mouth from curling up in disgust. She clutched at her stomach and doubled over.

"The operation was almost ruined since you kept fighting the sedatives and waking up." Jax continued but to Nia his voice sounded far away. "The procedure was successful, nonetheless. You are approximately one week pregnant, by human standards."

Nia was still shaking her head in denial and rocking herself.

"No, no, no, no…" she whimpered over and over again. "This isn't happening, this can't be happening…"

Jax jumped out of his chair and rushed to her side. "Are you all right?" he asked. Even Prae'tor stepped closer out of concern. Nia didn't answer, she just kept swaying and mumbling to herself.

"Everything is going to be all right." Jax reassured, laying comforting hands on her arms. "You are going to be just fine."

Suddenly, she jolted straight up and clamped a hand over her mouth.

"What is it?" Jax queried, not knowing just what to expect from her next. Nia hopped onto the bed, scampered over it, then ran across the room and into the bathroom.

Seconds later, the robot and the Yaut'ja heard the female throwing up into the toilet.

Don't worry, there's more! Just click on the pretty little ">>" button. -D


	5. Chapter 5

Remember that this is only fiction and, of course, I have no idea whether things that will be mentioned in this chapter can really happen.But isn't that the beauty of science fiction, to make one ask "what if?" like the commercial for the Sci-Fi channel? I'm just hoping to entertain and excite the senses of all Sci-Fi and AvP fans.

Speaking of fans, I'd like to give a big, southern-style shout out to reviewer **"Flamer Yaoi"** for that absolutely amazing review. I grinned for days and days after reading it. Whenever I feel a reviewer is dumping on my story, I'm going to reread yours to make me feel better. I sincerely believe that ILL does not deserve such a fantastic label, but from the top and bottom of my heart, Flamer Yaoi, thank you so very, very much and I hope you like the rest of the story. Kisses to you!

Chapter 5

A half-hour later Nia was still prostrated over the toilet with Jax kneeling beside her, hold back her long, black as she gagged.

"You are going to be all right." he was trying to reassure her. "It is normal for human females to experience nausea and vomiting in the early stages of pregnancy. It will pass and you are going to be all right." The robot certainly had excellent bedside manner.

Nia groaned and wiped a sheen of sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand. "Why did you do this to me?" she grumbled. "Of all the women on Earth, why me?"

"Because the Yaut'ja need your help." Jax replied, his tone serious.

"How in the hell does carrying that thing out there's baby help anybody?" Nia wanted to know, gesturing to the front room where Prae'tor had remained all this time.

"Would you please stop calling him those foul names?" Jax scolded. "He has feelings, too."

"Damn his feelings!" Nia shouted. "Was he thinking about my feelings when he killed a man right in front of me? Was he worried about my feelings when he drugged and kidnapped me?"

"I can only imagine how upset you must be about that…"

"_Upset_ is an understatement!"

"…but the Yaut'ja are desperate." Jax finished. Nia took a deep breath, trying to calm herself.

"Desperate how?" she asked.

"They are dying." He stated plainly, his expression serious. Nia just stared at him for a second, not speaking, her face blank; but she soon found her voice.

"Forgive me if I don't give a damn." she said sourly, then stood up in front of the face bowl and splashed cold water over her face.

"I must say, I find your lack of humanity…disturbing." Jax replied, rising to stand beside her. Nia dried her face and glared at him with one hand on her hip.

"Then you're really going to hate this," she warned. "I want you to terminate this pregnancy." The light behind Jax's mechanical eyes brightened and flickered, making Nia think that they had malfunctioned.

"But…we cannot." he protested.

"I don't wanna' hear that crap! If you can get me pregnant, you can abort it."

"No, that is not what I meant. Ending the pregnancy is not an option." Jax rectified. Nia stepped closer to him.

"I don't want that thing's baby growing inside me!" she hissed, stabbing her finger toward the front room.

"The baby is also part human." the robot supplied.

"Does it look like I care?" Nia snapped in reply. Jax could only stare at her in silence because he was at a loss for what to say to her next. Finally he suggested,

"Let us return to the front room. The baby's vitals are irregular and I think it would be best if you sat down." He left the bathroom before Nia could protest. After a second, she followed him and returned to her previous position on the bed. Prae'tor had since sunk his large frame into an odd-looking recliner and appeared to be utterly comfortable. Nia wondered why he was so quiet and still during all of this, but after a second thought, she was glad that he had remained so. On the other hand, she was not going to just sit back and let them treat her body like a baby workshop either.

"Why won't you about this pregnancy?" she demanded of Jax, who was busy in the kitchen preparing something. When he was done, he brought the container to Nia and she learned that it contained chicken broth.

"It will settle your stomach." Jax informed her, but she didn't drink it right away.

"Well?" she said instead. The robot seemed vexed that she wasn't drinking the brew, but he said nothing. He could hear that the baby's vital signs had settled down again and he wanted it to stay that way.

"There is a virus sweeping through their race. They would have seen it coming if they were not so engrossed with their hunts and their over-inflated egos." Jax directed this last part over his shoulder to Prae'tor, who responded with a low, non-threatening growl.

"Do not be absurd!" Jax said to him.

"What did he say?" Nia asked.

"He alleged that I am jealous of his trophy collection and his renowned honor among the clans." Jax supplied. "But he is incorrect." A perturbed expression crossed Nia's face momentarily.

"Anyway, like I was saying, by the time the Yaut'ja medics realized that they had a full-blown epidemic on their hands, it was too late. The virus had mutated and a cure has yet to be found." Jax explained. "Many lives have been lost, including many veteran elders of the hunts. Prae'tor's own mother and brother were among the casualties."

_That thing's got a mother_? Nia wondered to herself and glanced at the Yaut'ja, whose head was bowed a little, probably in grief. But she still had a hard time feeling any sympathy for him, especially after all he had put her through.

"I have a hard time believing that a race as advanced as these…people seem to be can't stop some little virus." Nia disbelieved.

"You do not understand." Jax began again. "The Yaut'ja have a very strong immune system. They practically never get sick. Their healthcare basically consists of first aid for battle wounds, the regeneration of lost body parts and childbearing for the females. But this virus is a…" he paused searching for the right word. "…conundrum."

"Why? You just said that they aren't vulnerable to disease."

"This virus attacks the Yaut'ja brain stem before their immune system can attack it. One second a healthy, robust Yaut'ja male is getting ready for the hunt, the next second he is on the ground with blood seeping from his nose, mouth, and ears."

Nia clutched at her stomach and tried to stop herself from gagging by sipping on the broth. "Take it easy on the details." she pleaded.

Jax looked apologetic. "Forgive me. I was simply trying to explain the gravity of the situation." Nia nodded and swallowed more of the soup. She felt the warm liquid roll down her throat to her stomach and was glad that she didn't throw it back up.

"So what does all of this have to do with me?" she asked exasperatingly. It had been a long day and she was fast loosing her patience- and sanity.

"Because the same virus that is indiscriminately killing the Yaut'ja is the same strange illness that you suffered from as a child." Jax informed her. Nia's brows raised in interest.

"How did that happen?" she asked.

"A hunter must have unwittingly brought it back from Earth and it must have mutated. There are several theories." Jax hypothesized. Now Nia expression changed to one of confusion.

"What do you mean a _hunter_ on Earth?" she queried.

"Nevermind that." Jax snapped, throwing a quick glance over his shoulder to Prae'tor. Nia would have pressed the issue, but she still had questions pertaining to her own welfare.

"So, I'm guessing that you guys need a couple of ounces of my blood to extract a few anti-bodies and create an immunity, right?" she asked. Jax didn't answer right away. He seemed like he was struggling for a proper explanation.

"Actually, that was the first action we took." he finally admitted. "But it did not work."

"Why not?"

"The anti-bodies were just too…" he paused for a second. "…human, for lack of a better term."

Nia's face fell in agitation. "Excuse me?"

"No offense." Jax recovered quickly and grinned. "The human and Yaut'ja systems are like oil and water, they do not always mix. So, I came up with the perfect solution." He grinned proudly.

Nia was almost afraid to ask, but she did anyway. "What?"

"Well, in my studies of human medications I have learned that some substances are insoluble."

Nia looked baffled.

"In other words, sometimes two different solutions will not mix together, like oil and water, for example." Jax clarified, and Nia's perplexed look disappeared slightly. "So, to solve this problem a chemist will add another ingredient, called an _emulsifier_, so that the two liquids can blend."

The woman's befuddled expression returned.

"The baby you are carrying, Nia, _he_ is the _emulsifier_ between you and the Yaut'ja." Jax simplified. Her eyes widened in shock. She glanced from the robot to Prae'tor, then back to Jax.

"Wait a minute," Nia objected. "Something doesn't add up. If our immune systems don't match up, or whatever, how in the world did you get our DNA's to mix?"

"Well, it was not like we were trying to join a feline with an ape. You _are_ both humanoids and you have _some_ similarities."

Nia tossed the Yaut'ja a disgusted look, then set her eyes back on Jax. She could feel her blood boiling.

"Why didn't you just ask for my permission before you did all of this to me?" she demanded.

"We could not risk you saying no." Jax replied. Nia narrowed her eyes at him.

"So, because he's some kind of warrior that's bigger and stronger, and I'm just some…weak human female, that gave him, you, THE BOTH OF YOU, the right to do all of this to me?" she shouted.

"Neither one of us would describe you as weak." Jax corrected, hoping to calm her down. "We both think very highly of you and we only want what is best-"

"Bull!" Nia snapped, cutting him off. "What you two have done is _wrong_, it's immoral, it's…it's… sadistic!"

Prae'tor growled.

"I agree." Jax said to him, then to Nia he said, "You look tired. Maybe you should lay down for a while."

"I'm not tired…" she contradicted and jumped up from the bed.

_Here we go again_, thought Jax.

"…I'm furious!" she finished and promptly pitched her mug across the room toward the kitchenette where it crashed into the wall, splattering yellow broth and glass pieces everywhere. The lights behind Jax's eyes grew brighter in shock. Prae'tor jumped to the edge of his chair and released a snarl that sounded deep and angry to Nia.

"She has every right to be." Jax said to him, back in control of his eye-lights. Prae'tor growled again and hissed.

"But she is _right_!" Jax added more firmly. The Yaut'ja glanced from the robot, to the human and back to the robot. Nia's heart was pounding in fear, but she didn't sit down. Finally Prae'tor sat back in his chair again. He hissed at Jax, who then turned to glare at Nia's abdomen.

"What?" she asked, unconsciously laying a hand over her belly.

"Prae'tor can also monitor the baby's condition through his mask. The child is in distress because you keep getting upset." Jax replied. Nia was about to protest, but Jax raised his hand to silence her. "However, on behalf of himself and his people, Prae'tor would like to offer his apologies for kidnapping you and performing experiments on you. We both agree that that was the wrong way to handle the situation." Jax related. Nia was a little taken aback because of their act of contrition, but she wasn't sure she was ready to forgive.

"What were you two arguing about?" she asked, changing the subject.

"He wanted to sedate you again." Jax replied simply.

"Isn't that bad for the baby?"

"Maybe if it was a human child you were carrying." The robot answered, almost smiling. "But his concern is understandable. The past few hours have been very tense. You need to lie down."

"Stop trying to control me." Nia snapped, not ready to surrender yet. But her words didn't have much conviction.

"I am not trying to control you. I am trying to look out for you and the child." Jax assured her.

"Go to hell." Nia barked at him and began pacing back and forth. "I'm not stupid. I know that as soon as I give birth, he's-" she pointed at Prae'tor, "-going to do the same thing to me that he did to Donnell."

"That is _not_ true, Nia. We-"

"I don't want to be here. I want to go home!" she continued, her voice growing steadily weaker, as was her strength, but she kept pacing. "And I certainly don't want to be pregnant with some monster's baby!" Jax rose from his chair and walked to her. Nia stopped and folded her arms across her bosom.

"You do not mean that." Jax countered calmly. "You just asked me if another sedative was bad for the baby. You would not have asked that if you were not concerned about its welfare."

Suddenly, Nia clutched at her abdomen and doubled over. She groaned in pain, and sank to her knees with Jax clutching at her arm. Prae'tor was out of his seat and at her side in seconds. Before she completely collapsed, she was in the Yaut'ja's arms and was being carried to the bed. Jax already had the coverlet pulled back and Prae'tor laid her down, then stepped back.

"Rest, now." Jax said softly to her and slid the heavy blanket up to her shoulder. Nia had no energy to protest this time. "Things will appear better when you wake up, you will see."

"I want to go home." Nia moaned again, her eyes already closing.

"You will, _Shao'uta_. I promise." Jax swore.

"What's a sha-o-uta? Nia mumbled, drifting off.

"You, my dear. You are the _Shao'uta_."

But Nia was already asleep.

Thanks for reading! I hope to have chapter 6 up in the next two weeks, at least. Love ya' !


	6. Chapter 6

I know, I know! "It took you long enough, Ms. SoftMynx! Who do you think you are making us wait this bleep, bleep long! Why I oughta'…!" LOL. Sorry for the long wait, you guys. I would have had the story up two weeks ago, but my chronic bronchitis decided it needed some private time with my immune system. I wasn't good for anything for almost two weeks! Anyway, I hope these two chapters are worth the wait…

Disclaimer: I have a correction to make. In the third chapter, and probably others, I wrote that Jax could hear the baby's heartbeat. I've since learned that a human baby's heart doesn't beat until the third week of pregnancy. I apologize for this mistake and I will try in the future to be more careful.

Also, I have to say again that the opinions and views expressed in this and further chapters belong to me only and I am not and can not speak for the entire Predator Franchise.

Chapter 6

She woke up hungry- ravenously hungry. As a matter of fact, it was the stabbing pangs of starvation that had dragged her out of unconsciousness. Nia sat up on her elbows in bed and called out for Jax. As there was no one else in the room, she received no reply. She, then, got out of bed, pushed her feet into her slippers and headed for the kitchenette.

After throwing open a few cabinet doors, she found several different varieties of soup. Without even bothering to heat the soup, or put it in a bowl, she opened the can and began eating. She was on her fourth can of chicken with rice when Jax entered the room, followed by Prae'tor.

"What are you doing?" the robot questioned, taking in the mess of empty cans lying on the table. Nia looked up at the sound of his voice.

"I…I'm hungry." she stammered, for lack of a better explanation.

"Well, I can see that." Jax retorted, his expression turning grim. She ignored him and continued spooning food from the can. Jax grasped her wrist.

"Nia, stop this. You are eating too much for one sitting," he warned.

"But I'm hungry!" she screamed, trying to snatch out of his grip. Prae'tor snarled something from behind the robot.

"Excellent idea." Jax responded. "Lie down on the bed. I need to examine you." He said to Nia.

"I'm eating," she refused, pushing food into her mouth with her free hand.

"Nia, please, let us not fight about this." Jax pleaded.

"I'm sick of being bossed around by you two! Why won't you just leave me alone?"

Prae'tor grumbled something, turned from the upcoming drama scene and went to his favorite seat.

"Some help you are," Jax complained to his retreating form, sighed, then released Nia's wrist.

"All right, I will make a deal with you," he conceded. "If you let me take a look at you, I will prepare any meal you want."

Nia glanced at him hopefully. "Anything?"

"Anything you desire."

"You promise?"

"Yes."

Nia dropped the can and the spoon she had been holding, hopped out of the chair and hurried to the bed where she stretched out on her back. Pleased that he had resolved the issue without another fight, Jax followed her and sat down next to her on the bed. Nia watched in fascination as the robot changed his robotic right hand into a box-like instrument exactly like the one she saw Prae'tor use on her in the Infirmary.

"What is that thing?" she asked.

"It is a minuscule sonogram device, roughly translated," he replied, sweeping the apparatus side to side across her lower abdomen after lifting up her tunic.

"That small?" Nia frowned in confusion.

"Must I remind you, once again, that Yaut'ja technology is…"

"I know, I know." she groaned, cutting him off. "More advanced than human technology." She looked up at the high ceiling and sighed, allowing Jax do his work in silence. She stole a glance at Prae'tor, whose head was resting on the back of the huge recliner as though he was stealing a nap. As if sensing that he was being watched, the Yaut'ja raised his head and peered in her direction. Nia looked away.

"Why does he always wear that mask?" she asked Jax. She shifted her eyes to Prae'tor to find him still watching her.

"Because the atmosphere in this room is suitable for a human, not a Yaut'ja."

Nia sat up on her elbows. "You mean they don't breathe oxygen, right?"

"More or less. Breathable air is made up of many different combinations of gases. You each can breath in the other's air for a period of time, but eventually, your lungs will give out. Yours faster than his, as Prae'tor is nearly three times your size." Jax explained casually.

"What about the baby?" Nia queried and Jax stopped what he was doing to study her. She looked genuinely concerned. "You said it wasn't human," she continued, "so that must mean-"

"Stay calm." The robot said gently, laying a comforting hand on her shoulder and pushing her back down on the bed. "The baby gets whatever it needs from your bloodstream. He is fine." Nia nodded in understanding, but she didn't relax.

"I need you to confirm my readings." Jax said to Prae'tor as he changed his hand back to its original form. The big Yaut'ja rose from his seat and ambled over. Nia watched as the eyeport of Prae'tor's mask focused on her belly. She felt completely naked beneath his gaze and it took everything in her to lie still. Finally, Prae'tor raised his "eyes" to Jax and spoke in his growling alien language.

"Hmm, no wonder she is so hungry." the robot concluded.

"What?" Nia demanded, sitting up completely, her heart pounding in fear.

"This is unexpected," Jax continued saying to Prae'tor, who nodded once in agreement.

"What? What!" Nia screeched and her robot guardian turned his attention back to her as if just remembering she was there.

"The fetus has grown exponentially." he informed her as Prae'tor stomped back to his chair. "It is still too small for you to detect any of its movements, but the increase is unmistakable."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning you are now three and a half weeks pregnant." Jax put simply. Nia's eyes widened in shock. "The rapid growth is draining your body of most of its nutrients and supplying them to the fetus. That is why you are so hungry despite all you have eaten.

"But…but…" Nia stammered, unable to believe what she was hearing. "How is this possible?"

Jax's expression was both thoughtful and worried. "I can only conclude that the growth increase is just another side effect of the Human/Yaut'ja blending." he said by way of explanation. "We could not have foreseen this and I believe that as your pregnancy advances we may have a few more surprises in store for us."

Nia didn't like the sound of that. "What did you mean by _another_ side effect?" she asked.

For a moment Jax stared at her in silence as he contemplated whether or not to give her any more information that may upset her. But Nia was relatively calm at the moment, so he decided it would probably be better for her to know.

"While you were asleep, I took a blood sample and discovered that you have Yaut'ja testosterone in your bloodstream."

"Now what?" Nia groaned, and fell back on the bed exasperated.

"In diminutive amounts, mind you, but enough for me to believe that this is the reason for your sudden outbursts of anger from time to time." Jax continued despite her comments. "Your natural secretion of pregnancy hormones mixed with Yaut'ja testosterone would send anyone into a frenzy. I am surprised that the sleeping agent worked at all."

Nia shot straight up in bed. "What sleeping agent!" she fired at the robot. Jax paused, his expression flooding with the wide-eyed guilt of have spoken too much. He looked to Prae'tor for help, but the predator appeared to be stifling a laugh.

"Jax?" Nia pressed, but the robot was still reluctant to say more. Nia narrowed her honey-brown eyes at him.

"Did you drug me again?" she snapped. Jax wouldn't meet her hard gaze, but he didn't have to as Nia suddenly figured it out for herself.

"The broth." she concluded flatly.

"If you would have finished the entire cup you would probably still be asleep now." Jax finally said.

"No wonder I kept getting weaker and weaker until I could barely stand up." Nia mumbled as she remembered the incident. "Jax! How could you?"

"You were out of control," he reminded her. "You were ranting and raging and throwing things. I had to do something."

Nia harumphed, crossed her arms under her bosom and shot daggers at the robot.

"Hate me now, if you must, but remember that my primary objective is the safety and health of you and the child." Jax lectured.

"But aren't all of these…" Nia groped for the right word, "…changes my body is going through dangerous for me and my baby?"

Suddenly, the lights behind Jax's artificial eyes brightened and he smiled broadly.

"Did you hear that?" he turned and asked Prae'tor, who nodded once.

"What?" Nia asked.

"You said _my baby_," Jax repeated and Nia's brows bunched together in thought.

"I did?"

"Yes." Jax confirmed elatedly. "For the longest time we thought you would never except the fact that you were pregnant…"

"How can I not except it?" Nia grumbled.

"…let alone come to care for the baby."

"Who says I care for it?" Nia retorted and Jax lost his smile.

"Deny it if you wish, but I can see physical body reactions that you care for this baby _and_ what is happening to Prae'tor's people."

"I do not!" Nia snapped, jumped up from the bed and began her usual pacing habit as she always does when she's angry and frustrated. "I'm just…"

"Hormonal?" Jax supplied. Nia tossed him a sour look.

"I was going to say hungry. You promised me you'd cook for me."

"And cook I shall." Jax assured, rising from his seat. "What would you like?"

"What do you have?"

"Anything and everything you so desire." Jax replied grandly. Nia was quiet for a moment as she contemplated this.

"Catfish." she finally announced.

"Fried catfish?"

"Seasoned and fried."

"Of course. How innate of me." Jax joked and walked into the kitchenette.

"And baked ham." Nia added. The robot turned and stared at her oddly.

"Fish _and_ ham?" he asked.

"Just a couple of slices." she amended. "And chicken! I'm dying for some chicken, cook it anyway you want. And I want some spaghetti simmered in tomato sauce to go with the fish; mustard greens to eat with the ham and I've always cooked rice and corn on the cob with my chicken."

Jax cleared his throat nervously. "The mustard greens might take a while," he admitted.

"Yeah, that's right." Nia agreed off-hand. "You'd have to wash them again and again, they take forever to boil down and don't get me started on how hard it can be to season them sometimes." she rambled on, staring at her feet as she reflected on the matter. "Okay, scratch the mustard greens. I'll have macaroni and cheese instead. _Lots_ of cheese."

"Anything else?" Jax asked, even though he was hesitant to do so.

"Um, no. I think that will do- for now."

"I certainly hope so." Jax quipped under his breath.

"How can you have all of this human food here?" she asked, ignoring his remark.

"We were expecting you, Nia." Jax replied simply. She had a feeling that he wouldn't say any more on the subject, so she didn't press him.

"I'm gonna' go take a shower. If you want, I'll help you cook when I come out."

"That will not be necessary." Jax declined. "You are our guest and you must be treated as such."

"If you say so," Nia sang, then turned and headed for the bathroom. Jax watched her go until the door slid shut behind her, noting that she did not insist on helping him. He tossed Prae'tor a "what-have-we-gotten-ourselves-into?" look, then set off for the kitchen.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Where did you learn to cook like this?" Nia asked Jax, who was sitting across from her. His fingers were entwined upon the table as he stared oddly at her while she shoveled forkfuls of food into her mouth, wondering where in the world was she putting it all. He knew he should be worried about her eating so much, but he had never seen her this happy before and he wasn't prepared to spoil her good mood.

"I have many talents." he replied casually.

"Jax, you're being vague."

"Am I?" he returned, feigning innocence. Nia shook her head at him hopelessly and continued eating in silence for a while.

"What does _shao'uta_ mean?" she suddenly asked. Jax's brow ridge raised questioningly. "When I was falling asleep, you called me _shao'uta_."

"Ah, yes, I did." Jax remembered.

"Tell me it doesn't mean "Prae'tor's wife" or "Prae'tor's possession" or something like that." Nia hoped. The robot chuckled, but shook his head.

"No, in the Yaut'ja language _shao'uta_ means savior." Jax translated. Nia actually stopped eating and gave him a lost look.

"You and your baby will save the Yaut'ja people and you will forever be honored among them." he went on. Nia glanced over at Prae'tor sitting in his chair and found him watching them. She looked back at Jax.

"I don't want to be honored." she countered. "I want my body back the way it was. I want my humdrum life again, with my underpaid job and my monotonous college classes. What I _want_ is to go home."

"I know and you will." Jax promised. His face was so sincere that some of the agitation growing inside of Nia melted away- some of it.

"This is just so…frustrating!" she whined, wanting to go on another rampage, but lacking the energy to do so.

"Of course it is. You are very emotional right now. You just need to get out of your quarters for a little while, that is all." Jax soothed and Nia seemed to perk up.

"You mean I'm not restricted to this room?"

"Definitely not."

"I can go outside and see the planet?"

"You will not be able to breathe outside for more than a few minutes." Jax denied. "But there is an excellent garden right down the hall." Nia scoffed under her breath, but didn't press the issue. At least she was going to be somewhere else for a while.

"All right." she relented and Jax smiled.

Nia finished eating then she relaxed in bed while Jax cleaned up. She thought it was nice to have someone clean up behind her and cook for her, even if it was an artificial intelligence. Finally Jax announced that he was prepared to leave. Nia had begun to drift off, but she quickly rose from the bed and followed Jax to the entrance. The doorway slid apart with a soft hiss and white vapor rolled into the room from the corridor, hiding Nia's slippered feet from view.

"This way," Jax directed and they walked side by side down the passageway, followed by Prae'tor. The hallway was exceedingly wide and tall, Nia supposed to accommodate the large Yaut'ja's. She stole a peek over her shoulder at the giant trailing behind her, then moved closer to Jax.

"Doesn't he have something better to do than hang around us?" she whispered and Jax eyed her curiously.

"Does Prae'tor's presence upset you?" he asked.

"Try answering my question first, please." Nia snapped, no longer whispering. Jax disregarded the jibe.

"Yes, I am sure that Prae'tor could be somewhere planning his next hunt, or training a younger generation of warriors, or any variety of things, but his desire is to be here watching over you." Jax replied.

"I'm not feeling this word: _desire_." Nia retorted. "And I thought _you_ were supposed to be watching over me."

Jax smiled wickedly. "Prae'tor does not trust my competence." he said and the Yaut'ja growled something from behind them. It sounded pretty nasty to Nia, but the robot was unfazed.

"Well, you should act like you do." Jax tossed over his shoulder in reply. Prae'tor grunted, which Nia guessed was a stifled laugh.

"Change of subject." she chimed in. "Where does that lead to?" She pointed to her left to what was obviously an access door.

"Outside," Jax answered. She halted, her face glowing with interest.

"I want to see." she exclaimed and Prae'tor growled behind her again.

"I agree, that will not be a good idea." Jax said, glancing from the Yaut'ja to Nia.

"Oh, come on! You said yourself that I could breath in their atmosphere for at least a few minutes." she argued, but the robot did not look convinced.

"I just want to take one quick look at the planet." she pressed and could practically feel Prae'tor shaking his head behind her although she didn't turn around to check.

"If you are asking me to decide between your curiosity and your well-being, I choose your well-being." Jax finally replied.

"But-"

"I am sorry, Nia." he added, then finalized the conversation by walking away from the door, his gears whining softly with each step. Nia groaned, clenched her fists in anger, but followed him with Prae'tor only a few steps behind.

After a short walk, the group had come upon a door to the right of the hallway. Jax paused just long enough for the heavy, alien-metal doors to slide open. Fog from the hallway rushed inside the room before Jax could lead them inside. The smell of flowers filled Nia's nostrils before she could completely step into the area. At first glance she saw sunflowers, tulips, chrysanthemums, roses, and a few more that she couldn't identify, growing from what appear to be, but certainly was not, out of the floor in neat, precise sections.

A main pathway was stretched out in front of her, lined with tiny lights on both sides. She followed the main path with her eyes and saw that it branched off into separate lanes. Short trees, bushes and shrubs also dotted the scene adding just the right touch of reality to the room. Nia could hear birdsong and the chirping of insects, but she didn't see any off hand. She could also hear the lapping of water in the distance and she almost wandered off to search for it. She looked up to discover an image of clouds floating lazily across the ceiling, but the image was transparent, causing her to believe that it was a hologram of some sort.

A swishing of doors opening then closing somewhere in the huge room drew Nia's attention away from the ceiling. A little ways ahead of her and to her right another robot came into view carrying a potted plant. It looked exactly like Jax, except it had goldish coverings, where as Jax's were grayish. Its attention was fixed solely on his destination to the main path until Jax cleared his throat and the other robot stopped and glanced their way.

"Visitors, how nice of you to- oh!" The robot's gaze fell on Nia, who smiled awkwardly.

"The shao'uta!" it said with reverence, then its eyes settled on his counterpart. "Number 7-6-7-8-3-0-6-9, why did you not inform me that you were bringing the shao'uta here?"

"My designation is now _Jax_," Jax corrected him. "And coming to the gardens was a last minute idea."

_Gardens?_ Nia thought. _This place is more like an arboretum._

"Would your circuits have fried if you took one second out of your time to send me a comm- message?" the goldish robot fired back, his voice sounding more human than Jax's to Nia, who was finding the tiff amusing. Jax, however, kept his cool as always.

"We are here now." he reasoned. "Would you like to show us around or would you care for us to entertain ourselves?"

The other robot frowned at Jax angrily, but didn't voice another complaint. "I need to replant this specimen," it said instead and started for the main path. Jax and Nia were prepared to follow when Prae'tor gave a low growl from the doorway.

"You are not going to join us?" Jax asked, spinning to face him, and Prae'tor made a reply.

"Oh, yes, I did realize that. But if you were content, then so was I. To your duties, then." Jax answered and Prae'tor left the room.

"What was that all about?" Nia asked.

"He has been lacking in his duties as of late and now he is now going to try and make up for some of his absences." Jax explained.

"Good," Nia quipped, glad to see him go. "That guy makes me nervous." Jax only shook his head in despair, then trailed after the garden-robot followed by Nia.

The second robot passed many rows, or rather small blocks, of flowerbeds until he came to the type matching the one he was toting. He stooped down, tapped a code into a pad on the floor hidden by short foliage, and stepped back. Nia watched in fascination as the entire flowerbed rose slowly to the waist level of the garden-robot.

"Whoa," she muttered, impressed. "That makes his job a lot easier, huh?"

"Indeed." Jax agreed.

"So, um, what's you name?" Nia asked the gardener, who had changed his right hand into a small spade and began digging a hole in the black soil. It was about to call out its serial number when Jax held up a hand to stop him.

"If you extract the three letters from this one's model number as you did mine, you get the name _Zen_." Jax supplied, leaving out the fact that he had to rearrange them in order to create a suitable handle.

"Would you like to be called Zen?" she asked the garden-robot, who turned around to regard her.

"It would be an honor to be called Zen by the shao'uta." he accepted.

"And the shao'uta prefers to be called Nia," Nia quipped. To her relief, Zen nodded in understanding.

"As you wish." he said and went back to his work.

"What kind of flower is that?" Nia asked next. The plant looked familiar to her, but she couldn't place it.

"An orchid." Zen replied. "I removed it to cross it with a different kind of orchid. Just an experiment."

"Do you take care of all this by yourself?"

"Yes, I am the keeper of the gardens." Zen had finished digging the hole in the dirt and was now carefully removing the flower from the pot. He placed it in the new hole and covered it with soil.

"What would you like to see first?" he turned and asked Nia.

"What else is there?"

Zen looked thoughtful. "Hmm, well, there is the aquarium, the theater, the library-"

"There's a library?" Nia interrupted him.

"Yes." Zen confirmed, transforming his hand back to its original form. "Would you like to see it?"

Nia nodded excitedly.

The library wasn't much larger than her living quarters, but to Nia it was adequate enough. Everywhere she looked there were books lining the many shelves of the room.

"Where's the mystery section?" she asked Zen, the names of a few of her favorite authors already popping into her mind.

"Actually, all the books you see here are holograms. See?" Zen reached for a book on a nearby shelf and Nia's face fell in disappointment when his hand went straight through it. "Any and every novel you may want to read is on the computer." Zen pointed to a computer workstation in the back corner. "The bookshelves are just for aesthetic purposes."

"Oh." Nia mumbled. "What if I want to take a book back to my room to read?"

"I anticipated that query," Zen said, who was starting to sound more and more like Jax to Nia. He walked to the computer desk, opened a drawer and pulled out a flat object of some sort. Only when he brought the thing closer did Nia realize it was a laptop computer except it was literally half the size of any of the notebooks that Nia saw students carrying around campus.

"I acquired this for you for your personal use while we were preparing for your arrival." Zen explained, handing the small laptop to Nia.

"How did you do that?" she asked, taken aback by its size.

"Ah, something called an In-ter-net?" Zen replied, hoping he'd pronounced the word correctly. Nia's eyes widened.

"A wonderful human invention, this Internet," Zen went on. "I was even capable of setting up a secure link to it with Yaut'ja computers. You will be able to browse the web as well."

"A one way link, I hope." Jax chimed in.

"Of course!" Zen snapped at him. "How basic to you think I am?"

"Wait a second!" Nia jumped in before Jax could voice his reply. "You bought this little laptop on the Internet?"

"Yes." Zen affirmed.

"But they don't come this small." Nia argued, waving the lightweight notebook around as if it wasn't real. "And where did you get the money?"

"Obviously they do come that small, they just are not as popular yet." Zen corrected. "And I got the money through a website called e-bay, I think it was? You would be surprised at the assortment of items humans can purchase there. And the price they are willing to pay for something is amazing." Nia could only stare at the garden keeper in speechless bewilderment.

"What exactly did you sell?" Jax wanted to know. Zen looked at him, but didn't reply.

"You did not sell a human any Yaut'ja technology, did you?" Jax demanded.

"It was only a cutting tool." Zen admitted. Jax's eye-lights brightened, then began to flash irregularly. "A small one, that I no longer used here in my duties."

"Are you out of your CPU!" Jax screeched. "You know selling or trading _any_ Yaut'ja equipment to humans is strictly forbidden. If the council finds out about this-"

"I had authorization."

"From who?"

Zen grinned innocently and Jax knew immediately whom his counterpart was reluctant to name.

"I am going to strangle him!" Jax suddenly exploded, shocking Nia who was surprised to see him lose his temper.

"Compose yourself." Zen said. "It was all for the shao'uta."

"I can not believe he would do something like this behind my back!" Jax ranted on.

"What? Prae'tor gave you permission to buy me this?" Nia asked, finally catching on. She had been thoroughly enjoying the squabble between the two robots, but now she just seemed dumbstruck. Zen nodded in response to her question.

" 'Return to my duties'- Indeed!" Jax rambled on, mostly to himself. "He knew I was going to find out about this and he just did not wish to hear me lecture him on proper protocol, _which_ I am going to do anyway the next time I see that sneaky little…"

"Prae'tor had been following you for weeks," Zen said to Nia, talking over Jax's ravings. "He knows what you like to do with your free time. I was given the secondary task of making sure you stayed mentally stimulated."

Nia's brows raised in interest. "Wow, you guys certainly have been expecting me." she mumbled. Jax, who was still a bit over heated, glanced at Nia curiously.

"Did you doubt that I was telling you the truth?" he asked her. Nia shook her head.

"No. It's just that…things are starting to feel more and more real now," she confessed, suddenly feeling dizzy. She shut her eyes tightly to fight off the wave of vertigo, the laptop slipping out of her hand in the process. Jax was at her side in less then a second while Zen dove for the piece of expensive machinery.

"Are you all right?" her guardian asked, lying supporting hands on her upper arms. "Maybe I should take you back to your quarters."

"I'm pregnant, Jax. I'm bound to have a dizzy spell every now and then." Nia barked at him.

"Well, you have had a rather exciting day." Jax said. "Maybe just a short nap would do you some good."

"I don't want to sleep, I want to web surf." Nia declared, elbowing her guardian aside. "Zen, will you show me how to use that?" she asked, nodding at the notebook.

Zen agreed gleefully, gesturing for her to join him at the computer desk. Jax followed, unhappy that his charge was uncooperative with his suggestion of rest. When they got the workstation up and running and Nia began chatting away about all the places on the web she wanted to show Zen, Jax surrendered on the idea altogether.

"Looks like we are going to be here a while," he sighed, and then looked for a place to sit and rest his components.

That's all for now, my friends. I'm not going to make the mistake of stating when I might have the next chapters up. I hope it's soon. Anywho, please review, even if you absolutely hated these chapters, just be humane. Oh, and I do love any and all suggestions. I may use them and I may not, but I still like to hear what you guys would like to see happen to the characters and such, since this fic is not etched in stone in my head. Good-bye for now!


	8. Chapter 8

Hey, guys! I know I took my own sweet time, but remember- good things come to those who wait. But still, my apologies for taking so long. I have too many hobbies, plus I fell sick again. Grrr….damn weak immune system! Damn chronic bronchitis!

Sidenote: I just finished reading the book Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding last week and I saw the name of my second robot character, Zen, on page 81. In BJD, Zen is referred to as a peaceful state of mind. Is my Zen like that? He isn't to Jax, that's for sure. I also saw the name "Prae'tor" on an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine a few months ago and it referred to the Romulan council in some way or another. If I have any Trekkie fans, they'll probably know what I'm talking about. Well, those were just sidenotes I'd thought I'd share with you guys. I'm done rattling on. Enjoy!

ILL

Chapter 8

A couple of hours later Jax had gone from sitting quietly in his seat to pacing back and forth behind Zen and Nia. He had noticed and counted the numerous times she had straightened her spine and massaged her lower back. She had also rubbed her left shoulder more than once and had made at least three runs to the toilet. After she had sent him on a search mission for a seat pillow, Jax concluded that she was obviously uncomfortable. What in the worlds of all the Yaut'ja could be so interesting on this thing called the Internet? And why was Zen so oblivious of her restlessness?

Jax braced himself for another impending quarrel.

"Nia," he began. "You are perceivably ill at ease sitting there. Maybe it is time I take you back to your quarters."

"I'm not ready to go back, yet," she replied, not taking her eyes form the screen. "Zen, check this out! I found a website where I can download movies."

Jax frowned down at her in irritation, noting how his list of emotions had been steadily increasing since she had come into his care.

"Yes, but for twenty human credits each." Zen informed her, his robotic eyes having already scanned the entire page.

"That's _dollars_, not credits, Zen." Nia corrected. "Do you have anymore funds in that account you were telling me about?"

Zen's face crinkled into a smile.

"What account?" Jax demanded, but Zen ignored him.

"Enough to indulge the shao'uta in whatever she wishes." he replied to Nia, who squealed in delight then immediately began scanning the list of movies. Jax groaned in irritation.

"Would you not be more comfortable watching movies in your bed with pillows behind your back and under your feet?" he suggested, trying a different tactic.

"And where you can keep the shao'uta all to yourself." Zen mumbled.

Jax glowered angrily at him.

"Stop calling me that, Zen." Nia snapped, then glanced over her shoulder at Jax. "I've been stuck in that room for days and I'm not in any hurry to go back there. So just chill out, would you?"

"I do not know what you mean by 'chill out', but I do know that the library is not going anywhere. We can always return after you have gotten some rest." he persisted.

"Would you stop bossing me around?" Nia barked, banging her fists on the desk with each word. "You're making my head hurt."

"All the more reason why you should do as I suggest." Jax added assuredly. Nia groaned loudly.

"Didn't you say earlier that there was a theater around here?" she asked Zen attempting to ignore Jax.

"Yes, I did." he replied.

"As in _movie_ theater?"

"Yes, but smaller, much smaller."

"If we download a movie can it be seen in the theater?"

"Absolutely." Zen announced proudly, moving his hands skillfully across the keyboard to fulfill her request.

"Are you even remotely concerned about her health, or the well-being of this baby?" Jax suddenly snapped at Zen, needing to direct his irritation somewhere.

"Don't you have a shut-off switch?" Nia said before Zen could reply.

"Of course not!" Jax harumphed completely unaware of the fact that the question was an attempt at sarcasm.

"Well, you definitely have an over-protective chip."

"And a kill-joy button." Zen added and Nia laughed.

"I am distraught over the fact that you find this so amusing." Jax scolded his counterpart. "If our assigned roles were reversed, you would be just as concerned as I am."

"Oh, lighten up, Jax. You worry too much." Nia said dismissively.

"It is in my programming to worry about you."

Nia ignored him and pointed to the screen. "Download these three, Zen. I haven't seen either one of them in a while." He immediately carried out her request.

"Are you really going to watch all three of those _movies_, as you call them, before you do what _I_ want you to do?" Jax demanded.

"If you truly hate it here so much," Zen began. "why not go back to Nia's room and _I'll_ stay with her and escort her back later."

Jax glared at his fellow robot as if his head had suddenly rolled off his neck for no reason and onto the floor. "There is no way I will leave Nia and the future of the _entire_ Yaut'ja race in your _incapable_ hands."

"I resent that!" Zen screeched, jumping out of his seat and coming nose to nose with his rival.

"So that means you'll be coming to the theater with us, right?" Nia intervened and Jax tore his heated gaze from Zen and regarded her.

"I believe," he said with a sigh. "That I have just been duped."

"Now that didn't take too long, did it, Jax?" Nia asked him as the three of them walked down the wide corridor back to her quarters. "Considering that we only watched _one_ of the three pictures."

"The movie would have come to its conclusion much sooner if you had not insisted upon watching numerous scenes over and over again." Jax complained.

"Killjoy." Zen mumbled, which got him a very sour look from Jax. Nia had to stop herself from laughing out loud.

"How often does a person get to rewind a scene at a movie theater?" she reasoned. "When Zen showed me that I could control the film from my mini-comp, I just had to take advantage."

"So I noticed." Jax grumbled and Nia tossed him a goofy look.

"Did you at least _enjoy_ the movie?" she asked next, but he paused before answering.

"It was a bit…odd." he finally replied. "And I do not appreciate the way in which those two robots were portrayed."

"Oh, good heavens, Jax, you sound like a censure committee." Nia grumbled. "What didn't you like about the roles of the robots?"

Again Jax waited before answering. Nia studied his face and realized that he was actually mulling over her question.

"Well, first of all, I do not understand how two robots with such varying personalities and who disagree as much as those two did could possibly be friends. Secondly, why could only one of them speak a basic language? Thirdly, why were they treated as slaves and not as contributing members of their society?"

Nia was shaking her head in disbelief.

"Did you even _try_ to enjoy the show, or did you just sit there and analyze it to find things wrong with it?" she asked.

"He is incapable of enjoyment." Zen answered for him. Jax glared at him hotly over the top of Nia's head.

"Do you not have things to attend to in the gardens?" he fired at his counterpart.

"It would be rude of me not to at least walk the shao'- I mean Nia- back to her quarters." Zen replied casually.

"Could you walk in silence, then?"

Zen smiled nonchalantly at Jax and Nia was glad that she was standing in between them so they wouldn't exchange blows.

"What about you, Zen? Did you like the movie?" she asked him.

"I thought it was creative, well-made, intriguing and I cannot wait to watch the next chapter with you." he replied elatedly.

"Oh, you're gonna' love it. In the sequel, the story is slower-paced, but it has very important themes that move the plot along. Oh, listen to me! I sound like a movie critic." Nia chastised herself then giggled.

"I trust your judgment." Zen admitted but he was looking directly at Jax with a haughty look on his face.

"What's all that?" Nia asked neither one in particular, pulling both of the robot's attention away from each other.

The trio had just rounded the corner that led to Nia's quarters and spotted two tables set up on either side of the door. Both tables were loaded with the oddest paraphernalia Nia had seen so far. Jax immediately rushed over to the tables and began searching through everything, treating each item with the greatest of care. Zen, who did not want to be outdone, went to the other table on the left-hand side of the door and also began a search.

"Well?" Nia asked anxiously after a short while.

"Gifts for the shao'uta, I would imagine." Zen replied with his attention still focused on the artifacts on the table before him.

"What?" Nia gasped and stepped up the nearest table. The first thing she came upon was a wide bowl, hand-painted and beautifully decorated with alien texts and figures crudely shaped like the Yaut'ja people holding spears. The bowl was filled with glittering multi-colored gemstones. Nia dug her hands into the bowl and scooped out some of the gems, temporarily mesmerized by their beauty.

There were also small woven baskets of food, human and alien. Next to the overloaded table, Jax was investigating a tall, exotically decorated vase that held three metal spears with long, deep red scarves tied directly underneath the points. Nia rubbed the fabric between her fingers, finding it to be unlike anything she'd ever felt. Next, she walked to the other table where Zen was and found more material folded in a low basket. Their textures ranged from silky to terry cloth like. She lifted the one on top and realized it was a garment. Next to that were two flat dishes, one of gold and the other silver. The gold dish held exotic silver bracelets, earrings and something that Nia guessed to be hair decorations. The silver plate held the same items, only they were fashioned out of gold.

"Oh…my…" Nia gasped softly, taking in all of the things before her.

"I would say this is more like an offering." Jax amended, still standing beside the vase of spears.

"What?" exclaimed Nia, staring at Jax as if he were insane. "Where did all of this come from?"

Jax threw Zen a '_what-have-you-done-now?_' look, but Zen held up his robotic hands up in surrender and shook his head.

"I had absolutely nothing to do with this." he denied. Jax didn't refute him, but looked up at the spears again, then to Nia.

"Male Yaut'ja's do not bind fabric around their hunting spears- neither do females, for that matter- but some have been known to do so when they can no longer hunt because they are with child." Jax theorized. "I believe that a group of very appreciative female Yaut'ja are behind this."

Nia was baffled and it showed on her face. "Why would they do that?"

"Besides the fact that you _are_ the shao'uta," Zen chimed in. Nia hadn't noticed until now that he had moved over to the vase where Jax was and was kneeling beside it. "But the symbols on this vase depicts the females offering gifts to a deity."

"What deity?"

Zen scanned the vase again before answering.

"Their fertility goddess." he replied. "One of the Yaut'ja's only female gods. Most times, only female Yaut'ja pay homage to her in the hopes of conceiving."

Nia unconsciously laid a hand on her lower belly. "It's a little late for that, don't you think?"

"Well, they could also be asking the fertility god to bless your pregnancy and delivery." Zen added.

"But why bring this here? Why not take it to a temple or something?"

"Who knows?" Zen said with a shrug, rising to his full height. "Maybe they believe that you are their fertility goddess reincarnate. Whatever they believe, they just want to honor the shao'uta."

"Well, I don't want to be honored. I want to go home." Nia responded sourly, as she walked to the door of her room. "Give it all back to them!"

Zen gave each other surprised looks, then quickly followed behind her.

"You do not want to do that." Jax spoke up. "You would be insulting the honor of whoever gave you these gifts."

"Hell on their honor!" Nia snapped. "Every time I turn around I get one more subtle reminder that I'm just some…_pawn_ to these creatures."

"But that simple is not true, Nia. You are not a-"

"Shut up, Jax!" Nia screamed. "_You_ are just as guilty as _they_ are."

Surprised by her outburst, Jax fell silent but Zen took up the slack.

"I have a suggestion," he began calmly and when Nia didn't command him to be quiet as well, he continued. "What if I keep your offerings in the gardens?"

Nia, who had begun to pace frantically to and fro, stopped in front of Zen and stared at him as she contemplated his idea.

"There is plenty of room, as you saw for yourself earlier. And if anyone asks, I could simply reply that the shao'uta charged me with the safe keeping of her offering."

Nia glanced toward the entrance as if she could see the tables laden with gifts through the metal door. Then she looked back to Zen.

"You wouldn't mind moving all that stuff to the gardens?" she asked.

"Absolutely not. I would consider it a privilege to do anything to help you with your transition through this difficult period." he assured her.

"I just bet you would." Jax grumbled sarcastically beside him and although Zen turned a bitter expression on him, he didn't reply.

"But maybe we should leave the gifts outside your door just for a few days," Jax suggested, no longer concerned with keeping quiet now that Nia had visibly calmed down. "So as not to insult the honor of the Yaut'ja who arranged all of this."

"Whatever!" Nia snapped. "Just don't bring it in here."

"If that is your wish."

"It is. Now, I want to be by myself. Please leave."

Jax and Zen exchanged worried, questioning looks, but decided to grant her request. Turning in unison, they strode across the room and out the door.

Nia watched them go and afterwards she threw herself onto the bed, scrunched a pillow underneath her head and wept.


	9. Chapter 9

Just a little bit more before you have to get back to your daily routine… '

ILL

Chapter 9

Nia didn't realize that she had fallen asleep until she woke up. Her bladder felt very full, so she guessed that she had been asleep for quite a while. Groggily she rolled out of bed and stumbled to the bathroom, barely noticing that no one else was in the room. After lifting her skirt, she plopped down on the toilet and relieved herself.

Realizing that she couldn't remember the last time she took a bath, Nia turned on the shower, shed her clothes, and stepped into the stall. She washed her hair, lathered her skin, then stood under the spray until all of the soap and shampoo had run off her and down the drain. She was hesitant to turn off the water as it felt so refreshing running over her body, but she finally did and got out.

Now that she was fully awake, she noticed the subtle differences in her body as she dried off. Her breasts were heavier, but tender and she could see prominent veins underneath the skin. There was also a distinct firmness and plumpness in her lower abdomen. She stood sideways in front of the full-length mirror in the bathroom and gasped. She was considerably more pregnant than when she went to sleep.

Nia shook her head in denial of her own reflection. To go from barren, to conception, to showing all in a matter of days was too surreal to deal with for now. Finding a large towel, she draped it under her arms, wrapped her dripping hair into another one, and then left the bathroom to look for something to put on.

She searched what seemed like the entire main room but came up empty-handed in the outfit department. She was about to search the kitchen cabinets, no matter how odd that idea seemed, but her body suddenly felt weak, and she sat down on the foot of the bed instead, wondering where all of her strength went. Just as she was beginning to think that her body had been invaded by an energy-sapping virus, the doors to her room slid open and Jax and Zen trailed into the room, followed by the towering Prae'tor. It didn't surprise Nia in the least that Jax and Zen were having yet another tiff.

"Why do you insist upon following me back here?" Jax was fussing at Zen, but didn't wait for a reply. He turned to Prae'tor and barked a different reprimand at him. "And _you_ should have told me about the computer links!"

"Get over it." Zen replied casually. "I had my orders, just as you have yours."

"What is your excuse for not returning to the gardens this time?" Jax demanded going back to his original question.

"Because Nia seemed very upset when we left her last. I just wanted to see for myself if she was okay." Zen answered.

"Where are my clothes?" Nia jumped in, anger heavy in her voice. Jax and Zen stopped shooting daggers at each other and regarded her. Prae'tor, not wanting to get in the "line of fire", hobbled off to his favorite chair.

"How are you feeling?" Jax asked her.

"Terrible!" Nia shouted. "My breasts hurt, my back is killing me. I can't find _anything_ to put on and this pregnancy is NOT normal."

"Why do you say that?"

"I was not this big yesterday." she replied standing up and turning around with her hands stretched out.

"I cannot detect any differences while you are wearing that bulky towel. Take it off." Jax instructed.

"I don't have any clothes on!" Nia reminded him tartly.

"Your nudity will not embarrass us. Zen and I are incapable of embarrassment."

"I don't care what you are incapable of, I'm not getting undressed in front of _him_." Nia snapped, nodding at Prae'tor who was watching the entire scene from the comfort of his chair. The two robots glanced at the Yaut'ja in unison then turned back to Nia.

"Maybe I should pick you something out from among the offerings still outside the door." Zen suggested. "Then you could change and Jax could examine you."

"Whatever." Nia mumbled and plopped back down on the edge of the bed. Zen turned on his heel and walked out of the room.

"Are you hungry?" Jax asked her next.

"I'm always hungry!" Nia yelled, then for no apparent reason, she dropped her head into her hands and began to cry. Jax moved closer, knelt down and placed a hand on her knee.

"I don't know what's wrong with me," she sobbed. "I just woke up, but I'm so tired. I was feeling just fine yesterday when we came back from the theater, but today I feel like something has taken over me."

"Everything will be all right," he said gently. "Your body is going through major changes, but you are young and strong. You _will_ get through this."

"I don't mean to yell at you and Zen. I couldn't stop myself."

"Do not concern yourself with the pitch of your voice. Zen and I have been programmed with some emotions, but we cannot be hurt by words."

"What have you done now?" barked a voice behind Jax, who then spun around to find an angry Zen glaring down at him. He had been so preoccupied with Nia that he hadn't even heard his counterpart coming back into the room.

"What are you talking about now?" he fired at Zen.

"The shao'uta was not crying when I walked out of here," the later accused. Nia noticed that he had picked out a forest-green, two-piece outfit and was holding it delicately over both arms.

"What thoughtless, inconsiderate nonsense came spewing out of your mouth now?" Zen continued. Jax stood up so fast that Nia felt a slight breeze.

"She is pregnant, you useless sack of machine parts!" he yelled. "A spontaneous outburst of tears is to be expected. Go back to the gardens where you belong!"

Unexpectedly, Nia started to laugh. Jax and Zen tore their heated gazes from each other and glanced down at her in bewilderment.

"I will never be bored here as long as you two are around." she giggled, rising from her bed and taking the garment from Zen.

"Why, thank-you, Nia." he replied gaily then turned a smug smile to his counterpart.

"That was not a compliment, you idiot." Jax informed him, which melted the smile from Zen's lips. But before he could respond, Prae'tor growled from across the room. All three set their eyes on the Yaut'ja.

"What did he say?" Nia asked.

"He said he wishes Zen would go back to his assigned duties." Jax spoke up first. Zen shook his head in disappointment.

"Lying does not become a robot of your caliber," he scolded, then looked at Nia seriously. "Prae'tor said he wishes we would stop arguing and concentrate on your needs." he translated. Nia glanced at the Yaut'ja again, then back to Zen.

"I think I'll go get dressed now" she said, then scampered off to the bathroom.

"See what you have done?" Jax hissed quietly at Zen once the door to the bathroom had slid shut behind Nia. "Now you have irritated Prae'tor as well. Why do you not just leave?"

"I will leave when the shao'uta asks me to." Zen whispered back. Jax narrowed his eyes at the stubborn artificial intelligence, swallowed the retort he was about to utter, then sighed heavily.

"Well, if you are going to stay, then you are going to work." he relented. "Go and brew some tea for Nia."

Zen didn't appreciate being told what to do. Still he stifled a scoff of his own and trotted off to the kitchen. About fifteen minutes later, Nia emerged from the bathroom completely dressed with her hair balled up into a different towel on top of her head.

"Is that tea I smell?" she asked, taking her hair out of the towel and draping it around her shoulders. Her wet hair fell about her face and shoulders in long, wet strands.

"Yes, it is." Zen replied from the little kitchenette.

"Then why does it smell funny?"

"It is green tea. It is very good for you."

"It's not really _green_, is it?" she asked reluctantly. Zen and Jax tossed her bewildered looks.

"What would you like to eat?" Jax inquired, changing the subject. Nia didn't hesitate.

"A stack of buttermilk pancakes, scrambled eggs with cheese mixed in, some bacon _and_ sausage, a side of grits smothered in butter and a side of scattered hashbrowns with diced tomatoes, ham and onions mixed in."

There was a brief period of silence, then Zen commented to Jax,

"Sounds like you have got your work cut out for you."

"But you are already in the kitchen." Jax reminded and gestured toward the cabinets and stove. Zen ignored him and brought a cup of tea to the table for Nia.

"By the way, you left this in the theater." he said to her and placed both the cup and mini-laptop on the tabletop.

"Oh, thank-you, Zen." Nia said happily. She took a seat at the table, pulled mini-comp in front of her and snapped it on.

"What are you going to do?" Zen wondered, taking a seat to her right instead of going back to the kitchen to cook. Jax noticed him, held back a harsh remark and went into the kitchen himself.

"I'm just want to surf the web for a bit." Nia replied casually, then sipped at her tea. "Mmm, not bad."

"Thank-you." Zen said, accepting the compliment with a small smile on his lips.

For a long while the only sounds in the room came from Jax as he shuffled about the kitchen, mixed with Prae'tor's occasional snoring. Nia clacked away at her mini-comp drinking her tea while Zen watched, waiting for the moment when he could be helpful to her again.

All of a sudden, Nia exclaimed, "They're looking for me!"

Jax immediately stopped whatever he had been doing and turned to face her.

"_Who_ is looking for you?" he asked fearfully.

"The police." she replied never taking her honey-brown eyes from the computer screen. "I ran across this article from my hometown newspaper. I've been reported missing."

"Nia-" Jax began but she had started to read aloud.

" '_No new information has come to light in the disappearance of 22 year old college student Nia Fulton who was reported missing by a co-worker three weeks ago_.' " She paused and looked up at Jax. "Three weeks ago? I've been here for three weeks? I thought it was closer to three days or so."

"Nia-" Jax tried again, but she only waved him off and went back to the screen. Zen scooted his chair closer to follow along.

" '_The co-worker informed authorities that Ms. Fulton went out the back door of the nightclub to take her fifteen minute break and when she never came back, the co-worker _'- they must be talking about Meagan- '_reported Ms. Fulton missing to the manager, who then alerted the police. Once on the scene, law enforcement officers conducted a thorough search of the back alley, but no sign of the young woman was found. Officers did discover, however, the decapitated body of an African-American male who was later identified as 44 year old Donnell Goodman. Blood splatter also found in the alley were later determined to belong to Mr. Goodman_.' "

Nia stopped, flicked a knowing look to Prae'tor, who had woken up sometime since she had began and was looking in her direction. Nia looked back at the screen and started reading again:

" '_Blood of another type has been found, analyzed and discovered to belong to a female, but not enough of the second blood type has been recovered to neither confirm nor deny foul play in the disappearance of Ms. Fulton. "This is a very bizarre case," states lead detective Andrew Covington. "A decapitated body found in the same back alley where a young college student took her last break and is now missing is very odd indeed. We need to find this young lady and soon so that the police department can get some answers. This type of unusual situation is very upsetting to the community and to everyone who knows and is related to Ms. Fulton, so finding her is vital_.' "

"Nia, wait-"

"Just a minute, Jax, there's more!" she scolded then continued. " '_The detectives in charge of this case have both made further statements to this newspaper insisting that they are using all of their resources to find the missing college student. No word yet on whether or not the police consider Ms. Fulton a suspect in the murder of Donnell Goodman_.'

"A suspect? How could they think I could chop off somebody's head?" Nia retorted. "What did I do it with? A nail file?"

Zen looked at Jax, unsure of what to say or do. Jax flung a worried glance to Prae'tor, then back to Nia, but she had already begun to read aloud again.

" '_The manager of the nightclub, as well as the friends and family of Ms. Fulton have collected over $5,000 as a reward for any information that will lead to her reappearance. If you have any information_- ' blah, blah, blah." Nia finished. "The article didn't mention the gun. The police must have told the newspaper to withhold that information." She rambled aloud.

"I wish I could send Meagan, or Kayla, or one of my professors a message telling them that I'm okay, but I don't remember their email addresses." She stared off into space for a second, rapping her fingertips on the table. "I know! I could post a letter on my university's message board."

"That may not be such a good idea." Jax finally managed to say before she could carry out her idea. Nia stopped and looked at him oddly.

"They think I killed a man, Jax!"

"The article did not say that. Besides, if you send an e-mail, whatever that is, to _anybody_ you know and tell them you are alive and well-"

"Well?" Nia interrupted, rising from her chair and smoothing her clothes flat over her plump belly. "You call _this_ well?"

"…will only raise the authorities' suspicion toward you when you finally do resurface." Jax finished as though she hadn't said a word. Nia stood in front of her chair shooting daggers at him across the table. Zen stayed quiet, glancing from one to the other as each spoke in turn. On the other side of the room, Prae'tor had moved to the edge of his chair.

"I seriously hate to admit this," Zen finally piped up, "but Jax is right."

Ready to defend himself against Zen as always, Jax opened his mouth to respond, but quickly closed it when the words of his counterpart sunk in. Instead he stared at the robot-gardener in shock.

"Telling people you are okay will only make you appear guilty when we take you home. And I am sure that is not what you want, right?" Zen pressed and for the first time since they met, Nia directed an angry look on him. When he didn't glance away, however, she plopped back down in her chair in defeat. But if any of them thought that was the end of it, they were seriously mistaken.

Without warning Nia shoved the mini-comp across the smooth, metal tabletop with all of her might.

"I hate this!" she screamed only seconds before the computer flew off the table and crashed onto the floor, breaking apart. The robots stared at the busted mini-comp in disbelief, but Nia's tantrum was far from over.

She jumped out of her chair again and in that same motion completely flipped the small, but heavy table over screaming at the top of her lungs in the process. Utilizing his quick reflexes, Jax jumped backwards out of the way. Zen pushed his heels against the floor as hard as he could which propelled his chair backwards before the table could crush his feet. On the other side of the room, Prae'tor was on his feet in less than a second.

"What is wrong with her?" Zen asked confused, as this was his first full-blown Nia-tantrum.

"From past experience, I believe it is safe to assume that it is the Yaut'ja testosterone in her bloodstream."

"What?" Zen watched helplessly as Nia began to kick at the upturned table legs. She had to be hurting her toes, he assumed.

"Everytime the fetus has a growth spurt, more Yaut'ja hormone is released into Nia's system. It is making her crazy." Jax explained.

"So what do we…uh, oh." Zen gasped when he realized what Nia's next target was.

"This is all your fault!" she screamed at Prae'tor as she barreled down on him. "_You_ killed Donnell, _you_ kidnapped me and _you_ got me pregnant. This is all your fault!" She punched him square in the center of his abdomen. "You did this to me! I hate you! I hate you!"

Nia struck the Yaut'ja over and over again on his exposed belly, too high on adrenaline to notice that she was cutting her knuckles on his wire-mesh covering. Jax jumped completely over the upside-down table and made a beeline straight for Nia, grabbing her shoulders once he reached her and yanking her back.

"Nia, restrain yourself!" he pleaded, shaking her a little in the process, but she was too far out of control. She somehow managed to shake out of even Jax's firm grip and charged at Prae'tor again, punching him in his belly over and over again, screaming her disgust at him all the while. Jax and Zen together moved to stop her, but Prae'tor gestured for them to hold off. The robots obeyed, however reluctantly, and watched in apprehensive fear as Nia hammered away at the male Yaut'ja that was three times her size.

To their surprise and relief, though, in less than a minute it was obvious to all that she was beginning to wane down. Her punches were not as intense and she was crying more than yelling obscenities. As she sunk to her knees in exhaustion, Prae'tor effortlessly swept her up into his solid arms and carried her to the bed. She continued to protest, but only verbally and soon she wasn't even doing that anymore, but drifting off.

"This pregnancy is taking its toll on her." Zen remarked as he watched Prae'tor cart her to the bed.

"She is strong." Jax assured him. "We would not have done this to her if we believed that her body was not capable of handling it."

"I hope you are right." Zen replied before he and Jax headed to the bed.

Prae'tor was leaning over a half-sleeping Nia, one hand smoothing her wet hair back off her forehead. When he realized that Jax was at his side, he stepped out of the way to let robot take over.

"What now?" Zen asked his counterpart who knelt beside the bed.

"I will give her a comprehensive examination to find out if I'm correct about the growth of the baby and the release of hormones in her bloodstream." Jax replied as he transformed his right hand into a scanning device.

"Her hair is still wet," Zen noted off-handedly.

"Well, maybe you can take care of that when I'm done." Jax suggested. When Zen did not respond right away, he stole a glance over his shoulder to find him staring down at him with an odd expression on his face. After a few more seconds of silence, Zen's mouth curled into a half-grin.

"I knew you would get used to having me around." he teased.

Jax scoffed, but it didn't come out as harsh as he wanted it to.

"I presume there is no harm for _me_ in allowing _you_ to believe that." he replied, then returned to examining his patient.

This is soooo not the end. Well, maybe for now it is. Hey, guys, I was thinking about adding a Xenomorph (is that the right name for aliens?) into the story. What do you guys think about that? If you think that is too corny, I won't do it. I'm open to any suggestions. If I use them, I'll give you either credit or a shout-out.

Thanks for your patience with me and for being such great reviewers…now go review! (kisses)


	10. Chapter 10

Bends over and takes all the kicks in the butt that her fans give her for making them wait so long:-D

I took so long that you may have to re-read previous chapters just to refresh your memory, huh? Speaking of previous chapters, ignore any alerts to a new chapter 9. I reread it and I madea few minor corrections. Anywho, I hope these next two were worth the wait…

ILL

Chapter 10

A cold, wet cloth pressed against her forehead dragged her into consciousness. Her eyelids felt so heavy that she could barely open them for longer than a second. Her entire head was pounding as if her brain was attempting to break free from her skull. She moaned in agony.

"Nia? Can you hear me?"

It was Jax. Good old, reliable Jax.

"Water..." was the only word she could manage. Her mouth was so dry that her tongue was sticking to the roof of her mouth. She heard the sound of robotic feet clomping across the floor, water running, then the feet returning to the bed.

"Here you go." Jax said, placing one hand behind her head so that she could drink more easily. They both held the glass to her lips and she didn't stop swallowing until the glass was empty.

"Thanks," she said gratefully, lowering her still hammering head back down to the pillow.

"You are most welcome." He returned. "How do you feel?"

"Hungry." she replied, wiping away water that had trailed down her chin. Jax smiled.

"That is a good sign."

Nia's shut her eyes tightly, trying to block out the thumping in her head. "I had this terrible dream." she said, her voice heavy with sleep. "I was breaking everything in the room and kicking things. I was screaming at you and Zen, then for no reason whatsoever, I charged at Prae'tor and started beating on him like a punching bag. It was horrible."

Her guardian contemplated not telling her the truth. She was resting comfortably, her vitals were stable, as were the baby's, and he hated to take that away from her. He was quiet for so long that Nia forced her eyes to stay open to see if he was still there.

"What is it, Jax?"

He still didn't reply. The robot walked back to the sink, set the empty glass in it and came back to the bed, his decision made.

"I truly hate to tell you this, but that was not just a dream. It really happened."

Nia glanced at him with half-closed, half-opened eyes. She shook her head in denial. The cold compress slipped off, but she didn't notice. "N-no. It was a dream. It…it had to be."

Jax picked up the ice pack and replaced it. "I would not lie to you, Nia. You really did those things."

"No, Jax." She protested firmly, sitting up while rubbing the drowsiness out of her eyes with the back of her hands. The compress dropped to her lap this time, but neither one of them reached for it. "I saw it. I watched myself act like that as if I was standing on the other side of the room. And it kept happening over and over again like someone was replaying a tape in a VCR. I couldn't stop it."

"I believe that you dreamed those things, but you did them before you fell asleep."

Nia still shook her head in denial.

"Look at the back of your hands," he urged her and when she did so she was surprised to learn that her knuckles were purple and red with half-healed bruises. She gasped, glancing at Jax with a shocked look on her face.

"I…I attacked Prae'tor?" She mumbled, the memories starting to resurface. Her guardian nodded. "But he's four times my size!"

Jax stifled a laugh. "Yes, but that did not stop you from assaulting him _or _from shattering your mini-comp _and_ from flipping over the kitchen table."

Nia's jaw dropped open. "What?" She shrieked. "There is no way in the world I could have flipped over that table. It must weigh a ton."

"That is what I thought when I saw you do it," the other mumbled. "The Yaut'ja hormone must also have given you Yaut'ja strength as well, if only temporarily."

But she was still having a hard time believing all of this. She glanced again at the proof that was evident on the back of her hands. "Did…did I hurt him?"

"Who? Prae'tor?" Jax scoffed. "He will live, I assure you."

"And the baby?"

When he didn't answer right away, Nia's heart missed a beat.

"What?" She asked, almost frantic. "Did I lose it?"

The robot shook his head. "No, but you could have if your fit would have lasted longer than it did."

"What's wrong with the pregnancy?" She questioned, unconsciously laying a hand on her lower abdomen.

"The amniotic sack has separated somewhat from your uterine wall. It is a normal occurrence when the mother is experiencing too much stress." He explained.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Nia moaned and reached for the cold pack and pressed it against her throbbing head.

"Wait, I have an idea." Jax got up and went into the bathroom. There was the sounds of cabinet doors opening and closing, then shortly afterwards he had returned to sit beside her on the bed.

"Think of it like this, as you know, your baby is growing inside of a balloon-like sack that is inside your uterus." Jax paused to see if Nia was on the same page as him. The expression on her face indicated that she was, so he continued. "The balloon adheres, for a lack of a better word, to the walls of your womb like a Band-Aid sticks to your skin." He opened his fingers and revealed that he was holding a Band-Aid, which he took out of its packaging and pressed the adhesive side to the back of her hand.

"Stress, such as tantrums or sitting up too long playing on the Internet and watching movies…" Nia narrowed her eyes at him angrily. "…causes the balloon to tear away from your body." Jax pulled the Band-Aid away from her skin. "That is very, very bad for the baby. But if you get plenty of rest and try to keep calm, like I've been stating since day one-" that got him another grouchy look, "-the tear will eventually repair itself." He concluded the demonstration by pressing the bandage flat over her hand again. "Understand?"

The corners of Nia's mouth were pulled back. "I think I'm gonna' be sick." She replied, then suddenly clamped a hand over her mouth. "Correction. I _am_ sick." She scrambled to get out of bed, but Jax clutched her shoulders to keep her seated.

"No, you must not get out of bed. At least not for the next few days." He explained.

"But I'm about to puke all over this bed!" She screeched.

"Wait, I have an idea."

"I can't wait!" But he was already in the kitchen, rummaging through cupboards. He made it back to the bed with a large pot just in time for her to heave into it. Jax departed for the kitchen and returned with a small towel. When Nia finished throwing up, she wiped her mouth with it.

"How far along am I?" She wanted to know.

"According to my calculations, you are approximately seven weeks pregnant."

Her eyes widened in shock. "But that means the baby has doubled in size."

The robot nodded in agreement.

"But that's impossible."

"Apparently not."

"Come on, Jax, not even a Yaut'ja pregnancy could be this ab-" she was cut off by an unexpected bout of vomiting. She threw up longer this time, her stomach clinching painfully to empty itself. When it was over, she fell back on her pillow and moaned in agony.

"Please, somebody, kill me now!"

"You _are_ joking, are you not?" Jax asked curiously, his brow wrinkled with confusion. Nia would have snapped at him, but she was retching again. Her guardian brought her a different rag, damp with cool water, and wiped the sweat from her forehead.

"Why is this kid growing so fast?" She continued to groan when it was over. "Why is this happening to me?"

"You are going to be just fine, Nia." Her guardian reassured her. "Nausea and vomiting is normal during the first trimester."

Nia glared at him. "There is nothing normal about this preg-…" but she was bent over the pot again before she could finish. Afterwards she flopped back on her pillow, her right hand slung over her forehead, the other clutching at her cramping belly. Jax wiped her forehead and chin then went to the sink to fetch a glass of cold water. Nia poured some of the water into her mouth, gargled, then sat it back out into the pot.

"Here, let me take that," Jax offered, picking the pot up and carrying it into the bathroom. He dumped the contents into the toilet and after flushing carried it into the kitchen where he filled it with hot water and soap. When he turned to check on his charge, he found her staring solemnly up at the ceiling. Tears were sliding down her temple and into her ear.

"Do not be angry with yourself, Nia," he said consolingly. "The amount of Yaut'ja testosterone in your bloodstream would have made any human freak out."

She turned her eyes from the ceiling and glanced at the robot oddly. " 'Freak out'? Where'd you pick up that lingo?"

"They are called _chat rooms_, I believe."

She chuckled to herself, but the smile quickly faded and she was staring back at the ceiling. "You guys made a mistake choosing _me_ for this procedure," she said, giving Jax a glimpse into her private thoughts. "I think I'm subconsciously trying to terminate this pregnancy any way I can."

"Nonsense." Jax said blithely. "You were, and still are, the perfect human candidate. There are simply too many dynamics happening to you at one time that are out of your control, that is all."

"Is the baby going to be okay?"

The robot returned to the bed with a clean pot and sat it on the floor before answering. "Yes. But you have to stay in bed, at least for the next few days."

Nia didn't like the sound of that, but she nodded her consent anyway. "I won't get out of bed. I promise."

"Good." Jax said, almost sighing in relief. "You must be starving. How about soup? You should be able to keep that down."

"As long as it's not tomato soup," she replied. "And not chowder. I hate chowder."

The robot waited patiently, knowing from experience that she was not done yet.

"Chicken noodle will be fine, with plenty of chicken and a lot of noodles."

Still, he waited.

"And throw in a few grilled cheese sandwiches."

"How many?"

"Um…three. Oh! And would it be all right if I had a milk shake? I suddenly have a craving for one. You know how to make it, right?"

"I can look it up and, yes, it is okay if you have one. Anything else?"

She thought for a short while, but in the end shook her head. "No, I think that will do. Can I go brush my teeth, please?"

Jax smirked at her. "You are not chained to the bed, Nia. It is all right to take care of your personal needs as long as you return to bed when you are done."

She smiled wickedly at him, then got out of bed and headed for the bathroom.

"Who dried my hair?" She asked when she came out, remembering that it was wet before her tantrum.

"Zen."

"Where is he, anyway?" Nia sat down on the side of the bed and began plaiting her hair into a French braid.

"I am thrilled to say that he has finally returned to the gardens to oversee the relocation of the shao'uta's offerings."

"Please don't start with that again," she groaned and Jax chuckled to himself. "Besides, we both know that you like Zen. Why else would you have him show you around the Internet and chat rooms?"

"I was bored," he replied glumly. Nia stopped doing her hair and tossed him a funny look, but he didn't see it since his back was to her.

"You? Bored?"

"Of course," the other replied seriously. "You were resting comfortably and the baby's vitals were steady. I had no purpose for the moment-"

"So you decided to hang out with your old buddy, Zen, and cruise the information highway, huh?" She interjected.

Jax tossed her a sour look. "Why are you humans so melodramatic?"

Nia laughed, started on her braid again, but changed the subject. "Didn't you say that I broke my mini-comp?"

"Into several pieces, as a matter of fact."

"Now who's being melodramatic?" She replied tartly. "Anyway, I asked because I wanted to watch a movie, but I guess I can scratch that idea."

"Do not concern yourself. Zen will be able to repair it." Jax reassured her. Nia had finished plaiting her hair and began searching for something to bind the tip. She went into the bathroom again, found an assortment of rubberbands and twisted one around the end of the braid.

"I just thought of something," she said when she came out. "Is Prae'tor mad at me?"

The robot actually stopped what he was doing to regard her, a quizzical expression furrowing his browline. "Whatever for?"

"I don't know, for assault and battery, maybe?" She replied, making her way back to the bed. "Or for my constant efforts to ruin this pregnancy, which will be an end to his entire race."

"Delete those thoughts." Jax commanded her. "Prae'tor sincerely believes that your "attack" was a preview of the fighting spirit this child will have."

"You're kidding me, right?" Nia asked sarcastically.

"I have not yet learned how to _kid_, as you say," he replied sincerely.

She giggled. "Zen has learned it."

Jax scoffed. "Zen is broken. He just does not realize it yet." Nia laughed loudly this time.

"But anyway," the robot continued, turning back to his work. "The Yaut'ja are a fighting race. Your show of aggression was not out of the ordinary for Prae'tor. His students attack him all the time."

Nia tried to imagine having a nine-foot tall, five hundred-pound alien warrior as a teacher, but failed. "What happens when they do?" she asked.

"The vast majority of his students learn from their mistake."

"And those that don't?"

Jax hesitated before answering. "Let me simply say that they will not make the same mistake a third time."

She got the picture and decided to change the subject again. "So what am I going to do in bed all day? I get bored just thinking about it."

"You could try sleeping. That is a novel idea." He replied as he brought her the milkshake that he had just whipped up.

Nia glared bitterly at him. "You _have_ been in chat rooms. You've learned to be sarcastic."

"No, I learned that from Zen."

She laughed as she accepted the mug from him. "Yeah, right, blame your bad behavior on Zen."

Jax smiled nefariously at her then went back to the kitchen.

A half-hour later Nia had pillows fluffed up behind her back as she was sitting up in bed. Jax had since brought her the meal she'd requested on a bed-tray and she was tearing into the food as if she hadn't eaten since she'd arrived here.

"Goodness, I didn't know that throwing up would make me so hungry! Why are you staring at me like that?" She asked Jax between mouthfuls. He was sitting in a chair beside the bed facing her.

"You are happy. Conversely, I am happy."

Nia threw him an odd look. "You are turning into a very mushy robot, Jax."

"Mushy?"

She searched her vocabulary for another word to explain what she meant. "It means sentimental, emotional. Sappy?"

He smiled. "Oh, well, you make me…mushy." He replied, then chuckled.

"What about Zen? What does he make you?" Nia asked, enjoying this line of conversation.

He contemplated her question seriously before answering, his robotic eyes staring at nothing in particular as he thought about it.

"Zen aggravates me." He replied finally, his eyes returning to her face. "Unquestionably."

Nia roared with laughter, the infectious sound causing the robot to smile despite himself.

"What about Prae'tor?" She asked next, after she had regained control of herself.

"Hmm," the robot mumbled and was quiet for a short spell. "With him I shift between feelings of responsibility and cynicism."

She didn't know what to make of that. "I don't mean to sound harsh, Jax, but you're a machine. You're not supposed to have feelings."

"I have adapted," he responded without missing a beat.

"Maybe you're broken. Like Zen?"

The other scoffed and actually rolled his eyes. "A ridiculous notion, I must say."

Nia shook her head hopelessly. "Okay, I give up," she relented then went back to eating her meal. After a while, however, her expression turned grim and her guardian knew something crucial was weighing on her mind.

"What is it?" He asked, but she didn't reply right away. He watched her sip broth from the bowl, then sat it back down on the tray before answering.

"When I was staring up at the ceiling, I wasn't just thinking about my outbursts." She paused and was quiet again for so long that Jax thought she'd decided not to talk about it after all.

"Yes?" He urged her.

She sighed, then said, "Maybe I'm barren for a reason."

"The reason you _were_ barren," he corrected her, "is because you had a serious illness as a child."

"No, I mean, maybe my body isn't cut out for this. Maybe the strain of carrying a mixed-species child is too much for me and that's why I'm so out of control sometimes."

Jax hesitated, wondering how he could stave off an argument. "So what would you have me do?" He asked pointedly.

"I don't know!" She snapped, then forced herself to calm down. "I'm scared, Jax. What if the next time I erupt, I cause a miscarriage?"

"We still have a few more of your ovum in the medical lab."

"I'm serious, Jax!" She cried, wanting to strangle him with her bare hands.

"I thought I was, too," he mumbled in self-defense. Nia groaned loudly and started eating again for a lack of anything better to do. She stabbed at the chunks of chicken in her soup so hard that the robot almost winced.

"Nia, hear me," he said, his tone soft, but still serious enough to cause her to stop what she was doing and look at him. "I cannot say for certain that we have seen the last of your bad temper. But if you do flare up again, know that I am here for you, and so is Prae'tor, and so is that idiot Zen."

She couldn't help but to laugh.

"Trust in us." Jax persisted. "Even if you do not trust yourself. Okay?"

She nodded, her eyes on her tray. She ate the last of her meal in silence and pushed the tray away from her. "That was good, Jax, thanks," she said in a whisper, but his sensitive ears heard her anyway.

"You are very welcome." He stood from his seat and carried the tray into the kitchen. Nia rested back against the pillows, her arms folded under her breasts. After a while she said,

"I owe you an apology, Jax."

He stopped removing dishes from off the tray to the sink and looked questioningly her. "Whatever for?"

"Because you wanted me to stop reading that article about my disappearance, but I wouldn't listen." She had been staring at her bruised hands, but she looked over to the kitchen to meet his eyes. "You knew that it would be a channel for another tantrum, didn't you?"

"I do not wish to brag. It is unbecoming for a robot of my caliber."

She couldn't help but smile. "Well, anyway, if I only listened to you I probably wouldn't be on strict bed rest right now."

"If it is any consolation, I am incapable of holding a grudge. But I accept your apology nonetheless." He smiled assuredly at her. "And just for the record, I understand why you wanted to read that editorial."

Her brows perked up hopefully. "Really?"

Jax nodded. "It is only human when one has been kidnapped to wonder if loved ones are concerned about you and if they are putting forth any efforts to find you."

She sighed. "I just wish I could tell them that I'm okay." She patted her tummy. "A little pregnant, but okay."

"I am sorry that we are putting your family through this hardship, but the Yaut'ja are quite desperate."

"But still, when I go back, I will have to tell the police where I've been."

"Yes, and even if you tell them the truth, your human authorities will not believe you. They will naturally assume that you are making it all up in an attempt to obscure the strange way in which you disappeared."

She hadn't thought of that. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I mean, if I was a cop and a woman who had previously vanished comes to me and says, 'Hey, I was kidnapped by aliens and forced to have their baby!' Hell, I wouldn't believe her either. As a matter of fact, I'd politely escort her to a padded room."

She suddenly glanced at Jax fearfully. "What am I gonna' tell people when I get back?"

"I am surprised that this dilemma has just now occurred to you," he teased and she narrowed her eyes at him.

"I've been busy," she remarked sourly. Jax chuckled.

"Do not concern yourself any further. I have already constructed your cover story."

"Really? What is it?"

"Questions, questions. You humans never run out of them, do you?" He taunted, inciting another bitter look from her. "All will be explained at the proper time."

"Tell me now," she insisted. "It's not like I'm going anywhere."

"If you are truly bored, why not take a short nap, hmm?"

Nia scoffed. "I don't want to take a nap," she snapped. "I want to go to the theater. Can't you wheelchair me there, or something?"

Jax shook his head. "No. You promised me you'd stay in bed."

"Yeah, but I didn't promise not to complain about it."

Her guardian tossed her a warning look and she threw her hands up in surrender.

"All right!" she moaned, crossing her arms under her breasts again in a pout.

She didn't brood for long, though. After a few minutes of complete silence, the doors to her room slid open and Zen marched joyously into the room carrying her mini-comp in one hand and a small, square box in the other.


	11. Chapter 11

Sorry about the delay. I found out that it wasn't that wasn't allowing me to post my chapter 11. It was my own stupid floppy disk (Yes, I'm still using floppy disks.) I had to type this chapter all over again on another disk. It's a good thing I don't throw my stories away after I get them typed up! Still, thanks for all the great reviews for chapter 10 and I hope you guys like this one as well.

Disclaimer: I'm not a Yaut'ja expert, so I have no idea what their planet looks like. I'm using my imagination here big time, so no flames about stuff I admit I don't know about. Man, I love Sci-Fi !

ILL

Chapter 11

"Zen!" Nia exclaimed, nearly jumping out of bed to rush to him.

"You look well!" He greeted her merrily. "And I like what you have done with your hair."

"I was just thinking, 'Man, I wish Zen was here!'"

"Ah, the shao'uta honors me with her thoughts," he returned with a polite bow.

"Oh, cut the theatrics." Jax snapped from the kitchen, drawing the other robot's heated gaze.

"I see your disposition is still as sour as ever." Zen returned abrasively. "It is always a pleasure to hear your nasty little remarks."

"What did you bring me?" Nia jumped in and Zen smiled brightly at her, forgetting about Jax for the time being.

"Well…not only have I repaired your mini-comp, and downloaded a few more movies that I think you'd enjoy into its database, but I have also brought these." He crossed the room, sat down on the bed and revealed a box of playing cards, laying the mini-comp far to the side.

Nia squealed. "See, I knew you wouldn't let me stay bored."

"Unlike some." Zen mumbled, cutting his eyes to his counterpart. If Jax heard him he didn't respond.

"What can you play?"

"Well," he began, "I have downloaded the rules and procedures to several dozen card games into my memory banks. I now know how to play _Hearts_, _Go Fish_, _Pitty-Pat_, _Casino_, _Two-Man Spades_, _Speed _-"

"What about B.S.?"

"B.S.?"

"Yeah. It actually stands for an expletive I'd rather not say aloud. A few of my college girlfriends taught it to me. Have you heard of it?"

Zen's eyes rolled up into his lids while he accessed his databanks, then they focused back on Nia. "I have found no references to a card game called B.S. or the long form of the two letters."

"I'll just have to teach it to you then," she avowed, then shifted her position on the bed until she was sitting Indian-style. She took the cards from Zen, shook them out of the box and riffled through them.

"The object of B.S. is to get rid of all the cards in your hand," she began.

"By what means?"

"That's the easy part. You just take them out of your hand and lay them down," she replied indicating the free space on the bed between the two of them. She found the two jokers and advertisement cards in the new deck and cast them aside. "But you have to put them face down in a stack and you have to say aloud what you're putting down, okay?"

"Does that not defeat the purpose of a competitive game?"

"No, because the fun part is you can lie about what you are putting down. For instance, if you have two ten's and a Jack in your hand, you can either put down the ten's and on your next turn- if you get one- play the Jack. _Or _you can lie and say that you're dropping three ten's or three Jacks. Got it?"

Zen was nodding. "I think so."

"But here's the catch. If I suspect you of lying, I can call you on it by saying "B.S." and you have to turn the cards over and show me."

"You will be…calling my bluff, as you humans say."

"Exactly. And if the cards aren't what you say they are, then you have to put all of the cards in the deck back into your hand."

"I see. But what if they _are_ exactly what I say they are?"

"Then I have to pick up all the cards as punishment for calling you a liar. See?"

"Yes, that is only fair." Zen agreed thoughtfully. "I am very intrigued. Let us play this game."

"I hate to ruin the fun-" Jax suddenly chimed in for the kitchen, where he had been listening to the entire conversation. "-but there is one thing you are overlooking."

"And what, praytell, is that?" Zen asked, humoring him.

"_You_ are a machine. You cannot lie."

"So are you, still you lied on Prae'tor the last time we were all together."

Jax had to recall the situation he was referring to before replying. "That was not a lie. It was wishful thinking that did not come true."

"B.S.!" Nia shouted and both of them glanced at her curiously. She giggled at the odd expressions on their faces. "Forget it, Zen. We can play something else."

"No, no. Deal the cards."

"But Jax said-"

"I know, but he just gave me an idea."

"What?"

"It is true, I cannot tell a lie, as he obviously can," he added glancing to Jax knowingly. "But I _can_ deceive." Nia laughed, understanding, then began passing out the cards.

"You are incorrigible." Jax snarled and went back to whatever he had been doing. Zen ignored him. He and Nia played cards, but after a while, she unexpectedly dropped her hands to her lap.

"You know what? This game doesn't work with two players." She declared. "Now that I think about it, I've never played it one on one before."

"Why not?"

"Because the cards are divided equally between the two of us. I cannot possibly bluff because I know exactly what's in your hand and vice versa."

"Yes, I see your point." Zen agreed glumly, lowering his own hands. "What do we do about it?"

Nia looked toward the kitchen. "Jax, come play with us."

"No." He refused flatly.

"Why not?"

"Because I'm not okay with telling blatant lies like some A.I.'s," he answered having turned away from his duties to face them. "Only humans could come up with a card game that not only encourages one to perjure oneself, but has such a derogatory title name as well."

"As opposed to a race of beastly, fighting aliens with advanced weaponry and resources who come to my planet to chop off people's heads and kidnap helpless women?" Nia returned.

"Nice comeback." Zen applauded her. Jax scoffed.

"Come on, it's just a game, for crying out loud," she persisted.

"Do not waste your breath, shao'uta. He does not know how to have fun," said Zen. "Let us play _Speed_. That is a great two-player game."

"I _do_ know how to enjoy myself." Jax defended. "I conversed in chat rooms with you, did I not?"

"Chat rooms are so impersonal. No one really knows who they are talking to in there, so the fun-level is limited."

"That is not the point. The point is that I _did_ it."

"Only because I was asleep and you had nothing else to do." Nia reminded. Jax glanced from one of them to the other as if he was wondering how he ever got stuck with these two simpletons.

"I know what you two are trying to do," he said at last.

"What are we trying to do, Jax?"

"You are attempting to bait me into playing this mendacious card game by using reverse psychology."

"Is it working?" Nia asked, smiling wickedly at him. Her guardian did not want to argue with her, but he knew he wasn't going to get a moment's peace if he continued to refuse. Sighing, he pulled a chair from under the table over to the bed and sat down.

"Deal me it," he requested.

Nia squealed in delight.

"I win again!" Zen jeered, a self-satisfied smile plastered across his plasti-metal face. It was more than an hour later and he had won nearly every match.

"You must be counting the cards or something." Nia complained.

"I am not!" He denied appearing hurt.

"He knows when you are lying." Jax said, his tone flat. Zen glowered angrily at him. "Any A.I. worth his weight can detect the subtle changes in your pupils, breathing and heart rate whenever you tell a lie."

Nia's eyes widened in shock then her expression quickly turned to anger. She folded her arms under her breasts, glaring at Zen in irritation.

"Even your blinking pattern changes," her guardian added for emphasis. Nia threw the gardener-robot and evil look.

"If…if I was reading you," he stammered, "then why did I not call you on every fib you told during the game?"

"Because you were waiting for the discard deck to pile up extra high. No chance of you losing with fifteen extra cards in the shao'uta's hands, hmm?" Jax supplied as if it was all so simple. Nia's jaw dropped.

"You talk too much!" Zen snapped at him, but his counterpart was unfazed.

"_You_ wanted me to play this game. You should have known that I would be watching you as much as you were watching her."

Now Zen's mouth fell open, but he recovered quickly. "We are not going to play B.S. with him anymore," he said to Nia.

"I'm not playing with _you_ anymore," she returned hotly. Zen threw his hands up in surrender.

"All right, I confess!" He blurted. "I was watching your pupil dilation, but not your breathing nor your pulse."

Nia couldn't help but to laugh, her anger melting. "What am I going to do with you, Zen?" she asked chuckling.

"For starters, you could tell Jax that I am your favorite A.I."

She laughed again. Jax shot daggers at the other robot before standing up and replacing his chair back under the table.

"I think you should take a nap now, Nia," he said and she glanced at him like he was insane.

"Take a nap? What am I? Three?"

"I meant no disrespect," he clarified, "Just rest for an hour or so, okay?"

"But I'm not even sleepy."

"You will be if I drug you."

Nia frowned in disbelief. "You wouldn't."

"Try me."

"You couldn't. I'd fight back and you wouldn't risk hurting the baby."

But Jax was undeterred. "I will have Zen hold you down while I administer the sedative."

"Wait! How did I get pulled into this?" Zen protested, but was ignored. Nia began to shake her head in denial.

"No, he wouldn't do that to me." She argued.

"Despite our banter, I _am_ Zen's superior. He _will_ obey my order or be decommissioned. He knows that."

Nia glanced at Zen, but the truth was evident in his robotic eyes. She looked back to Jax and held his steady gaze, her anger growing, but she knew he had meant every word he'd said. Plus, she had seen enough sci-fi/robot movies to know that Zen was ten times stronger than she was. Ultimately, she groaned in defeat, her hands clenching into tight fists.

"I HATE YOU!" She unexpectedly screamed. "GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!" Without another word she rolled onto her right side, turning her back on both of them. Jax just stood there watching her with a sympathetic look in his eyes. Zen, however, shot up from the bed.

"Could you not find a better way to handle that?" He hissed at Jax.

"She stayed in bed, did she not?"

"And she has been there for hours and will be there for hours still. Why could you not let her watch just one movie by herself or something?"

"I do not have to explain myself to you." Jax snapped, then pointed to the door. "Out."

Zen grumbled unpleasantries under his breath, but left. Jax went back over to the bed, picked up the scattered playing cards and the mini-comp and sat them on the table. Glancing at Nia, he saw her shoulders quivering and knew she was crying. Thinking it would be best to give her some space, he slipped from the room, dimming the lights on his way out.

An ear-jarring noise blared across Nia's unconsciousness, jolting her awake. Heart pounding, she blinked several times to clear her vision, yawned, then glanced around, wondering where the sound was coming from. She called out for Jax, but there was no reply. She was alone.

"I thought I was supposed to sleep," she grumbled, throwing the covers off and stumbling out of bed to the bathroom. Even with the thick, heavy door closed she could still hear the repetitive blast of what she assumed to be a fire alarm, even though she couldn't smell smoke. When she emerged from the bathroom, she didn't go back to bed, but into the kitchenette instead where she checked for anything that could be causing the siren to go off. Finding nothing significant, she strolled across the room to the entrance. She was surprised when the doors slid apart, assuming wrongly that Jax had locked her in.

Outside in the hallway the signal was louder. The orange/white lights along the floor were flashing in unison with the long screams of the alarm. The tables that had been laden with gifts were gone. However, Zen had left the waist-high vases, holding three Yaut'ja spears each, to keep guard on either side of the door. Nia was hoping to find him, Jax, or even Prae'tor standing in the hall, but it was empty of real or artificial life.

Thoughts of Jax brought back the memory of the horrible way she had yelled at him earlier. She hadn't meant what she'd said, she had just gotten so uncontrollably angry- again. He didn't have feelings like hers, but she had to apologize anyway. Still, Jax was going to blow a fuse when he caught her out of bed. Well, she'd have to cross that bridge when she got to it. On bare feet, she stepped out into the corridor, walked to the nearest corner and turned right.

There was no one in this main hallway either. The lights that had been built into the floor were also flashing in tune with the alarm and fog curled around her feet and ankles. She was hoping to find Jax in the gardens and if not then Zen would definitely be there and maybe he could tell her what the heck was going on.

Was this passage this long the first time she'd trekked down it?

Up ahead she noticed a shadow of a big doorway on the wall to her right. When she reached it, she realized that it was the silhouette of the door that Jax would not let her go out of the first time she'd left her quarters. The reason why it was throwing a shadow was because it was wide open!

"That's odd," Nia mumbled to herself. She'd never noticed a door in this place that didn't shut automatically sometime after it opened. Maybe it had malfunctioned. Well, broken or no, she could not resist the twinge of curiosity that weaseled its way into her brain. Any thoughts of finding the robots were pushed aside. She eased up to the doorway and peeked around it.

The immediate area outside the entrance was vacant also. Thank goodness! She wasn't quite ready to announce her presence to Jax just yet. Nia stepped out and was almost knocked backwards by the heat and humidity, but it didn't deter her. She bravely strolled across the smooth concrete surface until she came to the edge of light that spilled out from the open doorway. It was dark, obviously well into the night. If it was this hot now, what was it like when the sun came up? The moon was full, high, and and four times the size of the moon over her planet. That meant this planet was probably four-times the diameter of Earth to offset the moon's gravitational pull- or something to that effect, she wasn't an astro-physicist. Didn't Jax tell her once that this was just one of the many planets of Prae'tor's people? How many were there and were they all as big as this one seemed to be? Just thinking about it made her dizzy. Or was that the heat?

Regardless, the big, bright moon made it possible for her to see the landscape somewhat. The first thing that caught her attention was the huge stone pyramids scattered about the area. They weren't at all shaped like the ones in Giza, but they had a touch of familiarity to them as if she'd seen pictures of them in books or on TV. Nia did a one-eighty and learned that she, too, was housed in a giant pyramid. She spun back around to continue taking in the scene. All of the buildings had broad steps starting from the ground, which was very far down, and stretching nearly to the top. The crowns of the pyramids were either flat or square with statures and obelisks gracing them. The entrances were extremely tall and spacious, logical considering Prae'tor's size and he was just one Yaut'ja. Most likely there were others even bigger than he was.

Each massive structure was carved with intricate designs and images along the outer walls that she found beautiful and exotic. Whatever direction they faced, there were wide, spacious roads running to and from between them and beyond. As she looked about she could see that some pyramids were smaller in stature but still larger than most buildings on Earth. She wondered if they were residences and if so, which one did Prae'tor dwell in?

Far off in the distance she could just make out a flat-topped formation that was the loftiest and massive of them all. Was that where their ruler lived? Where no buildings or roads dotted the landscape, tall, stout trees thick with foliage smothered the area. It seemed as if the Yaut'ja people had built a pyramid-city right in the middle of a dense forest, cutting down only the trees needed to make a clearing to erect something.

Nia eased a few more paces forward and peered down the sloped stairwell with steps expansive enough to accommodate Prae'tor's large feet. She could detect motion down at the very bottom, but it was too dark to tell who it was. She wondered why they were just now tending to the alarm. Was it only going off in this pyramid? She didn't want to be standing here if that was Jax she had spotted. Believing that her curiosity was satisfied for now, she decided to go back inside and carry on to the gardens. The heat was getting to her, plus her breathing had become labored as though one of her lungs had shut down. The sweat trickling down her neck and between her breasts had her dashing for the cool air on the other side of the enormous open doorway. She was three steps from the entrance when she heard a snarling hiss behind her. She spun around so fast that the tail end of her French braid smacked her on the chin.

Nia barely registered the sting as the most hideous, gruesome creature she'd ever seen or dreamed about sauntered over the top step, crouched, then roared ferociously at her….

Can we say 'cliffhanger' ? Don'tcha' just hate me? I hope not because then you won't review. Can't wait to hear what you guys think…


	12. Chapter 12

Wow! An update from me in one month! I guess I was dying to know what was going to happen next myself. :-D Well, here they are. I hope they don't disappoint…

ILL

Chapter 12

She could hardly believe her eyes. It was as if a monster had stepped out of one of the science-fiction movies she loved to watch and was standing right in front of her. The thing was horrid to look upon. Its head was large, black and elongated with no visible sensory organs. Quivering lips were pulled back in a snarl revealing squared, silver teeth. Pools of saliva dribbled out of both sides of its terrifying mouth. Dark, mottled skin stretched tight over gaunt bones. Thin arms, which seemed too long for its body, ended in two abnormal, clawed hands. The creature stood on the pads of its taloned feet and bowed legs.

Although the monster had no eyes, Nia could feel its gaze upon her and she shivered in fear. Her heart pounded in her chest and air wheezed out of her throat and mouth. She had not been this afraid since that fateful day in the alley when she'd first beheld Prae'tor's fearsome form.

"Shao'uta…" someone said behind her and although she was nearly frozen with fear, she dared take her eyes off the monstrosity to find Zen standing in the doorway. It looked like the garden-keeper…but…then again…it didn't.

"What are you-" he began but stopped when he beheld the creature.

Nia's gaze shot forward again. The thought that his voice sounded different didn't stick in her mind long because the beast was charging right at her! She stumbled back, too petrified to even scream. There was a flash of gold out of the corner of her eye. A split second before the monster could reach her, Zen slammed the full force of his heavy robot body into its chest, knocking it backwards. The creature tumbled head over heels twice before it dug its claws into the smooth concrete floor and scratched to a halt.

"Run." The robot called out over his shoulder, but all she could manage was a few clumsy steps backwards.

"Nia? What are you doing out of bed?" a second voice said behind her, "Jax is going to kill _both_ of us!" The woman spun around and saw the same robot staring at her in disbelief from the entryway.

"Wha…?" She looked ahead again, wondering if fear was causing her to see double. "Who are you?" she asked stupidly.

"I am Zen. Who do I look like?" he snapped.

"Well, who's that?" she fired back, pointing to the robot in front of her. Zen looked to where she was indicating and his eye-lights brightened when they caught sight of the creature. "Oh, no...Nia, get in here!" he screeched, then reached out and snatched her inside before she could even wiggle a toe in compliance.

A few feet away, the Zen look-a-like was dodging the lashing tail of the creature with the speed of a cheetah.

"Wha- what's going on?" the frighten woman stammered, too pumped up on adrenaline to think straight. "What is that thing?" But Zen was too busy beating on the metal doorpost.

"It is stuck," he declared, inching his fingers inside the narrow space in an attempt to pull the door close.

"Wait! You're not going to leave him alone out there to fight that thing are you?" She demanded, grabbing Zen's arm to try and stop him.

"He can take care of himself."

"But…there's no way he can kill that thing on his own!"

"He does not have to kill it. He only needs to buy me some time to get you to safety." He replied, his voice straining with his efforts to yank the door out of the wall. "Terminating it would only be an incentive."

Beyond the doorway it was monster against machine. The A.I. caught hold of the creature's flailing tail and shoved the spiked tip deep into the stonework. He locked his hands together into one mighty fist and slammed it against the side of the brute's head, propelling it against the wall. The beast shrieked in pain and in fury.

"But Zen-" she protest, barely able to take her eyes off the skirmish a few feet away.

"No buts!" He shouted, abandoning the door and spinning on her. Nia physically jumped and stepped back, surprised because he had never yelled at her before. "That robot out there is fulfilling his duty. The primary duty of all of us, and that is to protect you, the shao'uta, _and_ your baby." He nodded up the hall in the direction of the gardens. "Run."

She hesitated, glancing outside again where the monster had collapsed to the ground under the robot's onslaught.

"Run!" Zen cried, shoving her by the shoulder. Nia tore her eyes from the scene outside and raced up the hall.

Behind her she could hear the roar of the creature and the scraping of metal against stone, but she did not look back. When she got to the first corner, however, her curiosity got the better of her and she slid to a stop to peer back down the corridor. Zen had ripped a paneling off the wall and did something that caused an electrical spark. He stumbled backwards, startled, but quickly stepped back to the exposed circuitry. He snatched out one neon-orange wire and reconnected it somewhere else. All of a sudden, his attention was drawn out the door. He watched for a few seconds and whatever he saw made him work more frantically than he had beforehand. After another burst of electricity, the main access door creaked shut. Satisfied, Zen bolted up the corridor in her direction.

"What are you waiting for? Get inside the gardens!" he shouted after he'd spotted her peering around the corner wall. She nodded and darted for the garden entrance. Seconds later she was inside the arboretum with Zen who then began to stab buttons on a nearby control pad.

"What are you doing?" she asked panting for air.

"Disabling the motion detector so the doors will not open without an access code- or fingerprints."

"Why? Did that thing get inside the pyramid?"

"No, but those creatures are very cunning. We should _not_ underestimate it."

She was starting to panic. "What is that thing, Zen? Where's Jax? What the hell is going on?" Her voice rose with each question until she was practically shouting. Zen registered the stress, spun from the panel and clutched her shoulders.

"Remain calm. You are pregnant, remember?" He could feel her entire body trembling uncontrollably and she looked as if she was fighting the impulse to have a nervous breakdown.

"I'm scared," she confided in a whisper.

"I know, but I am not about to let anything happen to you. We are going to be all right, I promise."

She had never seen this side of him before. In the past he was either doing stuff to make her laugh or cat-fighting with Jax. Somehow this confidant, take-charge side of Zen made her feel safe. Nia took a deep breath and visibly relaxed a little.

"I need you to trust me, okay?" he requested of her and she nodded.

"I do trust you, Zen."

He smiled and released her. "Good." Turning back to the control panel, he depressed more buttons and said, "When I am finished with this we can then call for back-up, okay?"

"Works for me," she agreed. "Mind if I ask you a question?"

The robot shook his head no.

"Question number one-" she began, holding up an index finger, "-just what in the world _is_ that thing?"

He kept working as he answered. "They are called xenomorphs. The Yaut'ja hunt them as a rite of passage into adulthood. Sometimes they are hunted for sport."

She had to pause for a second to let that one sink in. Why would any rational being _choose_ to come face to face with a monster like the one she had just seen?

"Oh…kay," she sang, unable to come up with a decent explanation. "But why is it knocking on _our_ door?"

"I will not know _that_ until I speak with Jax. But I am willing to bet that something-" he turned to look at her pointedly, "-or some_one_…" he faced the wall again, "attracted its attention. Someone who should _not_ have been outside in the first place."

Nia narrowed her eyes at him sourly. "Rub it in, why don't you?" she objected, but didn't press it because she knew he was right. "Are these things native to this planet?"

"Absolutely not. The Yaut'ja always go off-planet to hunt them."

"Then it can get back here, right? I mean all they have to do is hide out in some quiet corner of one of their ships and wait."

Zen shook his head no. "Yaut'ja ships rarely land. Warriors are jettisoned down to a xeno-inhabited planet in one-man drop ships." he clarified, suddenly turning from the console. He rushed across the spacious foyer to a small room along the far-left wall, Nia practically on his heels. The room was no bigger than her bathroom, but it had smooth, metal counters projecting out from the walls. Two 17-inch, flat screens were built into the wall at eye level, one on the left and one on the right.

"These monitors don't have keyboards," Nia noted as the robot moved to the one on the left.

"They are operated by voice command and touch. VCAT for short. My idea," he explained, then said to the monitor, "Locate A.I. designated Jax and open comm-display."

"What's that?"

"Communication screen," he supplied while they waited. "It is similar to webcam, only more advanced."

They didn't wait long. Soon the back of Jax's head appeared on-screen. Zen called his name and his counterpart looked upward as if whoever had spoken was on the ceiling.

"Turn around stupid!" the gardener quipped and Jax spun around and glared angrily through the screen.

"Zen? What do you want? I do not have time for your nonsense. We have a situation over here."

"And we have a xenomorph over here!" he snapped back.

"We?" Jax's eyes shifted to the form standing slightly behind the other robot. "Nia? What are you doing out of bed?"

"Is that really relevant right now?" she quipped just as Prae'tor's face appeared on the monitor. She didn't recognize him, though, because he wasn't wearing his mask which had long become familiar to her. She stared at his features in awe. The sunken eyes of the Yaut'ja widened and his brows shot up in surprise. He turned to Jax and verbalized something.

"I do not know. Ask him!" The robot responded and Nia knew Prae'tor, too, had asked why she was out of bed. The Yaut'ja turned his heated gaze on Zen.

"Look, we can place blame later. Right now we need reinforcements and information," he rationalized. "How many more are out there?"

"There should be none," the other robot replied. "All of them have been hunted down and killed. The carcasses are being burned as we speak."

"Well, you missed one." Zen said sarcastically.

"I do not miss!"

Zen glared at him as if _he_ was the xenomorph. "Why you self-righteous, over-zealous…" he stumbled for another label, "…glory hound! Are you trying to say that we _imagined_ the creature standing outside the main entrance?"

"Can you two focus on the issue at hand, please?" Nia jumped in. "I cannot believe you two are arguing at a time like this." She had been transfixed on the face of the alien standing next to her guardian, but her attention was diverted when the two A.I.'s started quarreling. Jax harrumphed, but held back the retort he was going to blurt out in return.

"All right, all right. We will worry about the how's and why's later," he relented. "How many did you see?"

"Just one." Zen replied.

Jax looked to Prae'tor. "How did we miss it?"

"Focus!" Both Nia and Zen shouted at the screen.

"All right!" Jax whined. "You two, find a safe place with very thick walls. Be careful and stay alive. We are on-"

Suddenly the lights in the room shut off and the screen went black.

"Zen!" Nia cried and reached out for him in the dark.

"Remain calm," he said coolly. "VCAT, initiate secondary power." After a short pause the familiar orange/white lights in the floor and ceiling hummed to life. Nia sighed in relief.

"What happened?" she asked.

"I do not know. I cannot restore primary systems." He moved to the other monitor, tapped on it and after a moment announced: "VCAT has been cut off from the mainframe, but I do not know how or why."

"Maybe that other robot did it to stop that zoo-morph thing from getting in."

"That other robot is dead." Zen informed, not bothering to correct her. "It was destroyed just before I got the main door closed." Thinking back, Nia remembered that he had noticed something outside which sent him into a frenzy. His fellow A.I.'S destruction must have been the catalyst.

"But…how? It was winning," she mumbled, shaking her head in disbelief.

"You have never seen a xenomorph in action. I have. They are relentless. They will strike until their last breath- or yours."

She didn't like the sound of that. "Still, it can't possibly be smart enough to know which plug to pull to shut off the power," she reasoned, biting down on her lower lip nervously. "Can it?"

Before Zen could answer, though, there was a loud clattering of metal outside the entrance of the small room, followed by a deafening roar. Nia jumped in fright, her gaze darting to the source of the noise.

"Oh, no, it's in here!"


	13. Chapter 13

ILL

Chapter 13

The xenomorph had fallen through a weak spot in the ceiling above the garden's foyer. It didn't land perfectly on its feet, which gave Zen the precious seconds he needed to shut the door to the small room they were in. The murderous creature slammed into the heavy door a split second after it slid closed. Cut off from its prey, the beast howled in rage and rammed its body into the door again and again.

"We're trapped." Nia cried, her heart skipping a beat every time there was a pounding behind the door.

"I beg to differ." Zen protested. "Give me your hand."

She tore her frightened eyes off the entrance and spun around to find him standing on the counter along the back wall. After he had helped her up, he banged on a metal ceiling tile and it slid aside.

"A ventilation shaft?"

He nodded. "That thing used it, so can we."

"But how do we know that there isn't another one of those zoo-morphs things up there?" She argued. "Think about it. Jax thought he had killed all of them, but one turns up here. Maybe there's more we don't know about yet."

The robot's eyes looked away in thought. "Good point."

He suddenly jumped down off the counter even though the creature was still laboring to tear down the door. "VCAT, scan the entire pyramid for xenomorph lifesigns and report the exact number discovered."

The computer worked much too slowly for Nia. She looked up into the escape hatch, ready to jump through, but she knew immediately that she would require help to climb up. The beast threw itself against the door relentlessly, making her flinch each time. Finally Zen received the information he needed and jumped back up onto the counter.

"According to VCAT there is only one xeno in the entire pyramid and its outside that door." He reported, nodding across the room. He stooped down, wrapped his arms around her hips and lifted her chest high into the opening.

"Don't wait for me. Go!" He ordered after she had clambered the rest of the way into the shaft. Just then the office door gave way with a loud clang and was propelled across the room. Zen jumped out of the way and into the shaft before it could crush him. He slid the tile back in place as the beast roared in disappointment below them.

"I thought I told you to keep going," he snapped when he'd spotted Nia still waiting by the opening.

"Sue me," she returned flatly. "What are you doing?" He was wielding the tile closed. "How many tools _can_ you change your hand into?"

He smiled wickedly at her. "More than Jax would like."

Nia couldn't help but to laugh. "Where to?"

"Um…I have not quite figured that part out yet." He admitted, completing his task and changing his hand back to normal.

"Oh…kay," she sang, uncertainty in her voice. "How much longer until help arrives?"

Zen peered down each available tunnel before replying. "According to VCAT Jax and Prae'tor were on the other side of the city."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning it will take them another eleven minutes for them to reach us."

Nia's brows shot up. "What? Are you telling me with _all_ of the super technology of the Yaut'ja it will take them _that_ long to arrive here?"

The robot nodded. "This city is a metropolis, shao'uta. You only saw one section of it."

Suddenly the floor underneath them quaked and the wielded tile dented upward in the shape of the xenomorph's head. Nia yelped in fear.

"Maybe we should discuss this elsewhere," she suggested.

"Agreed. Follow me." He led her down so many different tunnels that she gave up trying to maintain a sense of direction. While crawling through one passageway she suddenly shrieked in pain, lost her balance and slumped to her side. Zen stopped and looked back.

"What?" he questioned, looking past her to see if the creature had gotten hold of her. Fortunately nothing was there.

"I'm on fire!" she yelled, clutching her left wrist with the other hand. The robot looked at her palm and even though the skin was indeed sizzling away, she was not on fire.

"It is acid."

"What?"

"I will explain later. We have to treat your injury fast. Come." He guided her to a sealed hatch, opened it and climbed down the metal-rung ladder. Nia was gritting her teeth against the pain, trying desperately not to scream and attract the attention of the fiend that was after them.

"This way," said Zen and directed her down a dim hallway. Moments later he gently shoved her through a door, waited for it to close behind them, then began tapping buttons on the pad next to it.

"Where are we?" she asked, glancing around in the faint light.

"Supply room." He switched on the lights revealing shelves crowded with items. Boxes were also stacked up along the wall in the back. Zen snatched a bottle off a nearby shelf, practically ripped off the cap then doused the contents on Nia's hand. The wound fizzed like a shaken can of soda. She bit down on her bottom lip and groaned, the pain so intense that it made her dizzy. Surprisingly, though, the ache quickly faded. She glanced from her palm, to the bottle, then to Zen in confusion.

"What did you just pour on my hand?"

The robot tossed her a wicked grin. "Magic potion," he replied vaguely. She smirked at him, but didn't push the issue.

"Why would acid be in a vent shaft?" she asked instead.

"Because that is where the xeno was. The acid is its blood."

Nia's glanced at him in disbelief. "Are you for real?" When the other nodded in confirmation, she scoffed. "This just keeps getting better and better," she mumbled sarcastically. "What else can it do? Fly? Walk through walls?"

Zen knew she was kidding, so he didn't bother to answer. "The other A.I. must have injured it before he was destroyed," he speculated as he searched the shelves for bandages.

"You know, we should give that robot a name, considering he gave his life to save ours." Nia suggested and the garden-keeper smiled at her favorably.

"I am sure he would be honored to be named by the shao'uta just as I was. But translated into English, the letters in his model number do not spell anything."

"What are they?"

"M, F, and B," he related and she nodded in understanding. She spotted a stack of crates behind her and plopped down. "I've been attacked and chased by a killer beast, burned by its blood, now I'm hiding out in some storage room with only a door between me and a violent death, but all I can think about is assigning a name to some artificial lifeform that died trying to protect me." She sighed wearily. "It's official, I'm crazy."

Zen had found some gauze and brought it over to where she was sitting. "I would rather you ramble about mindless topics than have you give in to fear and despair," he reasoned, kneeling in front of her to bandage her wound. "How about _Gab_?"

"For what?"

"As a name for the other robot. Gab. Short for _Gabriel-_ an angel. As in guardian angel?"

Nia smiled brightly, liking the idea. "You're my guardian angel right now, Zen."

If the robot could blush, he would have.

"Yes, but I already have a name," he reminded. "Do you like it?"

"Yes. Now another of you brethren has a handle. Give me enough time, I'll have them all named."

The garden-keeper smiled crookedly in embarrassment, made sure the gauze stayed in place around the wound, then stood up.

"So," she began anew, her spirits lifted a bit, "what were we talking about before we started playing 'name that robot'?"

"The xeno. I think its blood burned through the vent-walls to the wires beneath and that is why the power went out."

"But if it's hurt, that can work to our advantage, right?"

He shook his head gravely. "I told you, this creature is ruthless. It will not stop until it is dead." The room was quiet as she contemplated his words. "If I had some kind of weapon, maybe it would buy us the time we needed."

"Zen, we're in a supply room. There's gotta' be something…"

She was cut off because there was pounding in the vents above them. Nia instinctively covered her head as if the roof was about to collapse on top of them. With a loud crunching of metal and a shower of sparks the xenomorph fell through a vent grating. It landed on top of the nearest shelf but was too heavy to keep its balance on the narrow ledge. The monster plummeted to the floor, screeching as it fell and taking several objects to the ground with it.

Zen immediately jumped into action, leaning his full weight against the closest shelf and toppling it over. More items tumbled to the floor in a noisy raucous as one metal rack collided with the next in a domino-like fashion until the last one trapped the creature against the far back wall. It roared in frustration but its kicks and struggles only brought more things down on its grotesque head.

"That will not hold it for long." Zen announced having to tap in his access code so the door would open. "Run."

Nia didn't argue. She shot up from the crates, fled through the opening, hooked a right and ran down the hall. At the corner she slid to a halt when she did not hear the robot's footsteps behind her. She _could_ hear the xenomorph shrilling and thrashing about and she was dying to know what part Zen played in all of that. To her relief, however, he soon came racing out of the supply room.

"Why are you not running?" he asked her when he'd caught up.

"What were _you_ hanging around in there for?" she fired back, pointing the way they'd come.

"I needed supplies," he answered casually, showing her two bottles with no labels on them and the gauze-roll that he'd bandaged her hand with.

"For what?"

"I believe they are called _Molotov's_."

Her eyes opened wide. "As in bomb? Are you crazy? You can't set off a bomb in here. There could be a gas leak we don't know about, or something."

"If there was a gas leak VCAT would have reported it to me. Only the link to the mainframe had been disconnect, not to the building's systems."

That wasn't good enough for her. She had to stop herself from grabbing his neck and shaking some sense into him.

"But why a bomb, Zen? You could bring the entire roof down on our heads."

"No, a Molotov bomb is very precise and it is basically used to start a fire. The xeno's are afraid of fire."

"That's if the glass breaks! _This_ is obviously not glass!" she fired back, pointing to one of the bottles in his hand.

He stopped unrolling gauze and glanced at her. "You are the one who gave me the idea of using things in the supply room for defense. Besides, I'm trying to kill the thing- or at least maim it- and I am quickly running out of ideas…and weapons."

Nia's forehead wrinkled and her eyes looked away in thought, but after a second her brows shot up in revelation. "Zen! The spears!" she shrieked, flailing her hands wildly.

"What?"

"The spears! The Yaut'ja spears that were placed outside of my room as gifts. They're still there. We can use them!"

The robot's eye-lights brightened in understanding and his mouth curled into an approving smile. "Excellent idea," he complimented, then went back to preparing his first bomb.

"You _really_ need to stay off the Internet, Zen." Nia commented, watching him. He responded with a sneaky half-grin and shoved the second bottle and gauze into her hand.

"Tear off a strip of cloth, soak it in the…"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I used to watch MacGyver. I know what to do."

_That_ perked the robot's interest. "Should I watch this…MacGyver?"

"No!" she denied flatly, thinking of all the brainstorms an inquisitive A.I. like him could get from that show. Suddenly a thunderous clatter reverberated from the supply room and through the hallways. Nia jumped, spilling some of whatever was in the bottle onto her hands.

"It has freed itself." Zen concluded just as the inner side of the supply room's door dented outward. The woman unwittingly began to jump up and down anxiously and he glanced at her oddly.

"Why are you still standing here?" He asked.

"Oh…right!" she mumbled, pushed the canister back into his hands and shot off down the main passageway. Behind her she heard clanging and knew that the monster had broken out of the supply room. Then, abruptly, the floor shook with the blast of the first Molotov. Nia lost her balance and fell to her hands and knees, but she scurried to her feet, the screams of the creature motivating her onward.

Just as she passed the corridor that led to the gardens she developed a stitch in her left side. The pain slowed her steps. She collapsed against the wall, clutching her side, moaning in agony. The xenomorph screeched again, startling her. She glanced over her shoulder, but saw nothing but black smoke. Concern for Zen gripped her heart, but she knew he'd want her to keep going. She moved up the hall, slumped against the wall for support, the ache in her side not diminishing at all.

She bypassed the main access that led outside. The creature had banged against the heavy doors until it had nearly given way. It didn't, but the entrance was severely damaged. Suddenly the floor shuddered beneath her once again. She lost her footing completely and fell on her side, the air pushed from her lungs. Worried for her robot friend, she rolled onto her back and peered up the chamber. Black smoke billowed along the ceiling in thick clouds. Noxious fumes irritated her eyes, throat and nose and she began to cough heavily. Her stomach clenched with nausea. She tried to stand but wound up tumbling against the sidewall and back onto the floor. Out of no where, it seemed, a pair of hands grabbed her arms and pulled her to her feet.

"Are you okay?" Zen asked her as he half-dragged her along. She nodded in response not quite able to speak yet, or relate how happy she was that he was alive. She sucked in a lungful of air.

"Did…you…kill it?" She managed to get out. The robot shook his head.

"No, but I think I seriously pissed it off." He replied, donning a phrase he'd picked up while surfing chat rooms. She groaned, but was coughing again before she could complain with words. He pulled her around the last corner that lead to her quarters. For the first time since the gifts were placed there, Nia was thankful they were given to her. Zen released her, then rushed back to the corner to check for danger. When he returned her back was against the wall and she was doubled over, trying desperately to catch her breath.

"I did not see it coming," he reported, pulling a spear out of a nearby vase and removing the red cloth that was tied underneath its tip.

"What in the world did you put in those bombs?" she asked, standing up straight and rubbing the sore spot on her side.

"Oh, a little bit of _this_, a little bit of _that_," her companion replied vaguely. She would have laughed- or scolded him- if she wasn't still panting for air.

An angry, growling hiss drew both of their attention up the passageway. The xenomorph slowly appeared, limping around the corner. It had obviously been in a fire because a plume of smoke was rising off its twisted body. Its head was a battered mess. Its right shoulder was dislocated. Dark-green blood dripped out of a deep gash on its upper left thigh and from one of its knobby knees. The acid ate away at the smooth, stone flooring wherever it landed.

Yes, the xenomorph was _seriously_ pissed off!

Nia screamed and immediately reached for the closest Yaut'ja spear. Zen grabbed her other arm and yanked her back.

"I want you to know something," he said, never once taking his eyes off the beast inching its way toward them. "The Yaut'ja could not have chosen a better candidate to save their people. I am glad that we have become friends."

"Stop that, Zen! Neither one of us is going to die today." she scolded him.

"No, you misunderstand me. I was not despairing, I was apologizing."

Nia threw him an odd look. "For what?"

"For this."

Without warning he shoved her toward the door to her room. It opened with a swish and she stumbled through. She tripped over her own bare feet, landed on her butt and rolled onto her back, her spear flying out to the side.

"No!" she cried, sitting up quickly and jumping to her feet. She rushed to the entrance, but it had already shut tight…

…and it would not re-open.

Another cliffhanger. Don'tcha' just hate me? ; Well, go blast me in reviews, but don't forget to tell me if you loved or hated these two chapters. Oh and please keep in your prayers all the people that are suffering in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, but at the same time watch out for scam artist! Kisses Peace!


	14. Chapter 14

ILL

Chapter 14

Nia beat helplessly on the thick door that barred her way to the hallway. She could hear the xenomorph's shrill screams and the scratching of metal and was certain that a decisive battle was taking place on the other side of her bedroom door. If Zen lost, she knew with every fiber in her being that the monster would come after her no matter how dense the wall was that separated them. Intellect told her that Jax and Prae'tor were probably running up the steps of the pyramid even now. If Zen could just hold out for a few more minutes…

An image of the robot they'd dubbed Gab, torn to shreds and abandoned like so much junk at the main entrance, flashed through her mind. Her heart skipped a beat. Zen and Gab looked so much alike it was easy to picture Zen in the same frame.

Nia's temper suddenly flared up. She would die before she'd ever let that happen.

She turned her back on the door, knowing full well she'd never get it open, and scanned her surroundings. Her goal was the same one Zen had in mind when they were trapped in that small office in the gardens…and it was directly above the kitchen table. She rushed over to it, snatching up the Yaut'ja spear from the floor in the process. She lifted a chair to the tabletop, but knew it wasn't nearly high enough to help her reach the vent.

There had to be something…

She started searching the lower cabinets in the kitchenette for something to stand on. Jax kept the area spotless with each and every item in its proper place. Still, he had to have a footstool or something to stand on to reach the highest shelves. In the last cabinet she found a plastic crate like the ones she had sat on in the storeroom. She yanked it out, surprised to find it light in weight. Or was that the Yaut'ja strength Jax once told her about? Glass clinked together inside the container as she carried it to the table. Once it and she were atop the chair, she knocked the vent grating out of the way with the spear, tossed it into the shaft and climbed in after. Her journey through the twisting tunnels was a blur. It wasn't until she was staring down through a different grating to the corridor below that she realized she had followed the noise of the screeching xenomorph.

What she saw nearly stopped her heart...

Zen was sprawled out on his back on the floor. The spear she had seen him grab from the vase was far out of his reach. Inner workings of his robotic body were exposed through various jagged incisions and scratches. He was lying in a pool of silvery-white fluid that rolled out from underneath him. Sparks burst from severed wires causing his body to twitch uncontrollably. And if all that wasn't bad enough, the creature was hunched over him continuously slashing at his face and chest plate.

Nia didn't think, she just reacted…

She slammed one foot down on the grating so hard that it cut her heel before it gave way and clattered to the floor below. There was no fear for her to push aside as she disregarded the ten to fifteen foot drop and slid out of the shaft feet first, landing right on the creature's back. The weight of her body caused it to sink to the floor next to Zen. Stank odors of smoke, fire and burned flesh seared Nia's nostrils a split-second before she drove the spear through the xenomorph's shoulder blades, directly below his fat, ugly head.

Acrid green blood spurted out of the wound at both ends, singeing the hem of her gown and the top of her bare feet. The creature screamed so loud with pain that it made Nia dizzy. She let go of the spear and covered her ears, which turned out to be a bad idea. With nothing to hold on to, she was thrown off when the monster reared up violently. She barely missed being impaled by its flailing tail as she flew backwards through the air, hitting the floor so hard that the wind was pushed out of her lungs. She banged her head, jarring her teeth, as white light flashed across her closed lids. Too busy fighting her own pain, she was unaware of the fact that the beast was heading right for her.

Zen noticed, though. He saw her fall from the shaft and land on the creature's back. He had sat up the minute the monster reared and watched in horror as she sailed through the air and dropped to the floor like a rock. Now it was creeping towards her, crouched low to the floor and growling, the spear still impaled through its torso.

"Nia! Look out!" he shouted, but the warning fell on deaf ears. She was still recovering from that hard landing. Zen reached out and grabbed hold of the monster's whipping tail and held on for dear life.

Up ahead, Nia had rolled onto her side and was trying to sit up. Her head, back and feet throbbed in pain and her sight was slow in clearing. When it did, though, her eyes widened when she saw the xeno clawing at the floor to get to her.

"Why are you just staring at it?" Zen demanded, straining to hold on to the creature's tail even though it almost lifted him off the floor. "Run!"

The woman scrambled to her feet, wobbled and sank back against a wall. She shook her head vigorously to clear her senses, then stumbled on shaky legs past the creature just inches from its reach.

"Have you lost your mind?" the robot shouted when he realized she was heading in the wrong direction.

"Yes!" she admitted, stopping to pick up Zen's spear from where it lay on the floor. The xeno twisted around as best he could with an A.I. holding onto its tail, yearning to kill the bi-pedal threat that kept alluding its claws. It opened its dark, salivating mouth and Nia thrust the pointy end of her newly acquired weapon into the narrow recesses of its maw, with such force that the weapon came shooting out the back of its slick, elliptical head.

Whatever sounds it made were choked back down its horrid throat. It kicked and thrashed violently on its one good leg in an attempt to fight its own impending doom. Zen dug his heels into the floor so as not to be slung around like a lasso. Nia was also holding on for dear life to the handle of the spear, afraid that if she let go she would be knocked unconscious by it. The xenomorph struggled for a few seconds longer, then went limp and sunk to the floor. Zen watched the creature a while longer, not certain of its death. However, because of his own injuries, he eventually released its tail and collapsed backwards onto the floor.

"See…I told you I wasn't going to let anything happen to you," he joked, elated that it was all over with.

Nia, however, was still standing over the dead creature and holding onto the weapon when Jax, Prae'tor and two other Yaut'ja's and robots rounded the corner.



The scene of carnage caused Jax's eyelights to flicker off and on. He quickly rushed over to Nia and gently laid his hands over hers.

"Everything is all right," he said to her in a soft voice. "You can let go of the spear."

Her gaze was blank and transfixed on the dead xenomorph. Jax's voice sounded far away to her and she was standing so still that she didn't even blink.

"You are safe now," he continued. "Let go, shao'uta…let go."

Nia wasn't responding. She was practically frozen to the spot, her fingers gripped the spear so tightly that Jax was unwilling to pry them off less he hurt her. He kept calling her name, but it didn't do any good.

"She must be in shock," suggested a voice from the floor and Jax looked down to find a battered Zen sprawled at his feet, leaking fluids and spitting electricity from exposed wires.

"What happened to you?" he asked, his brow crinkling into a frown.

"I had a date with a xenomorph," Zen spat sarcastically. He tried to pull himself erect, but wound up leaning against the wall for support. Jax grunted in response and turned away just as Prae'tor came to stand next to him. The Yaut'ja pried the spear from Nia's death grip, retracted the weapon then handed it to one of the other robots that were part of the rescue party. The Yaut'ja lifted the half-conscious woman into his big arms then growled something to his companions. They stepped forward and dragged the xeno's lifeless corpse away.

Jax crossed the hall and began stabbing keys on the panel next to the entrance. "What did you do to the doors of this pyramid?" he shouted at Zen when he could not get them to open.

"I set them so they would not open to just any old monster roaming the halls," the other replied snidely.

"You did more than that! I could not even get the main access to open right away. Now everything will have to be reconfigured." Jax's voice was dripping with derision, but Zen ignored it.

"Stop overreacting," he snapped, waltzing up to the paneling to punch in the code. The doors slid open with a swish and Prae'tor carried Nia to bed. Jax, however, spun angrily on his counterpart.

"Go repair yourself," he ordered hotly. "then assemble the rest of the A.I.'s and start cleaning up this mess that you have created."

Now it was Zen's eyelight's that flickered uncontrollably. "What! How can you possibly blame all this on _me_?"

Jax scoffed. "Oh, I suppose you want me to blame the _xenomorph_ for setting off bombs in the main corridor?"

Zen's mouth fell open in shocked quilt. "I…I can explain that," he stammered and the other harrumphed.

"I am certain you can," he quipped sourly. "You have your orders, now go." Without waiting for further argument, Jax turned his back on the garden-keeper and went to examine his charge.

Zen grumbled in frustration and limped up the hall.


	15. Chapter 15

ILL

Chapter 15

Two hours later Zen returned to Nia's room completely repaired and in pristine condition. He was surprised that Prae'tor wasn't present and hovering over her as she lay on the bed, her eyes wide open, vacant and staring up at the ceiling. Jax was in a chair next to the bed, his back to the door, but he twisted around when he heard them open.

"What are you doing here?" he snapped when he'd set eyes on his counterpart. "I gave you specific orders to-"

"The other A.I's are effecting repairs to the pyramid. They are quite capable-"

"I ordered you to do it!"

"I was concerned about Nia and the baby," Zen explained, keeping his calm. Jax, however, flew out of his seat.

"If you were so concerned about them you would have taken whatever precautions necessary to make sure she was safe. Instead, I come back to find one of my robots destroyed, the pyramid in shambles and Nia, not only near comatose, but holding onto a Yaut'ja weapon with a dead xenomorph on the end of it!"

The garden-robot drew back in confusion. "What are you mad at me for?"

"Because you could have prevented this!" the other accused, "All you had to do was get Nia to a safe place and stay there."

Zen had to stop himself from breaking out into mock laughter. "Has your memory processor been erased? You know how hard it is to get _that_ human female to do _anything_ she does _not_ want to do?" he reminded, pointing at the bed.

Jax grunted and dismissed the other's statement with a wave of his hand. He turned away and wondered over to the kitchen table.

"Is she all right?" Zen asked knowing full well that Jax wasn't yelling just to be yelling. "Did she miscarry?"

The guardian-robot shook his head. "No, but she could have."

"I know that!" Zen snapped, remembering with acute clarity how hard Nia had hit the floor after the xenomorph tossed her off. When he spoke again there was no longer any anger in his voice. "How is she?"

Jax turned back and looked at his charge lying unresponsive on the bed. "She has minor acid burns on the top of her feet and around her ankles, more bruises than I care to count and a small contusion on the back of her head, but other than that she is fine."

"And the baby?"

"Its vitals are all normal, which is incredible considering what it has been through today."

Relieved, Zen walked to the head of the bed and knelt beside Nia. "Why is she like this, then?" he asked, brushing a tress of her hair off her forehead. Jax moved back to his chair and sunk down into it before answering.

"Sometimes when a human experiences an extremely traumatic event, their psyche will shut down in order to protect the personality. But Nia is strong. She will snap out of it in a few hours."

A smile slowly spread across Zen's plasti-metal face. "You would have been so proud of her, Jax," he bragged. "She was amazing! Wait until I tell Prae'tor how she showed absolutely no fear whatsoever when she jumped out of that ventilation shaft and landed right on the xeno's back-" he stopped abruptly after seeing the appalled look on the other robot's face. "Um…nevermind."

Jax tried not to think about what Zen could have told him. For a lack of anything better to do, he transformed his hand into a medical scanner and moved it back and forth over the woman's lower abdomen.

"So…do we know how the xeno's got here?" Zen asked, noting the look of sheer worry on the other robot's face and decided to keep him talking, hoping it would help.

"No," Jax replied, his voice low and thoughtful. "Something like this has never happened before, not in all the eons of Yaut'ja existence."

"And you would know this…how?"

Jax smirked at him. "You surf the web for fun, I read Yaut'ja historical records. The point _is_ what happened here today was an isolated event. Xeno's are never brought back to the home planet. The Yaut'ja go to them. All survivors are examined for alien-implantation as soon as they reboard the mothership. That is standard procedure and there have never been any deviations."

"You are thinking like a robot, Jax," Zen said wryly.

"I _am_ a robot, stupid!"

Zen ignored the jibe and shook his head hopelessly. "You are missing my point, as always," he griped. "What I am trying to say is, the fact that all of this turmoil actually happened means that somewhere along the way protocol was _not_ followed. Maybe someone missed a step."

Jax tossed him a strange look. "It is hard to miss a stage two xenomorph growing inside your ribcage," he snapped in agitation.

"Hey…leave the sarcasm to the professionals," Zen retorted. "Is Prae'tor overseeing the investigation?"

Jax grunted. "If he is overseeing anything it is making sure that there is enough xeno-blood to go around to mark all of his students."

The other robot chuckled. "So no one is looking into the incident?"

Jax shook his head. After realizing that nothing had changed with the fetus' vital signs, he returned his hand to normal, then laid his forehead in it forlornly. His face clouded over with something the garden-keeper had never seen before. Guilt.

"It should have been me," he mumbled, his eyes settling on Nia's expressionless face. "I would rather have her throwing a tantrum then see her like this."

Zen frowned in confusion. "What is the matter, Jax?" He was quiet for so long that Zen was afraid he wouldn't explain further.

"I should have been here to protect, Nia, not you. _I_ am her guardian."

"There is no way you could have known that-"

"No!" Jax shouted, his voice echoing around the room. He lifted his head from his hand and glared angrily at his counterpart. It took him only a few seconds to calm down and when he did, both of the robots glanced at Nia, but she was unaffected by the outburst.

"When the Great Pyramid was overrun," Jax continued, his voice back to its regular pitch, "I knew I should have come right back. Prae'tor and the others were more than capable of…" he let the rest of the sentence trail off and fell silent again. After a moment her lowered his head to his hand once more. "I should have been here," he insisted, but Zen was not about to let him feel sorry for himself.

"All of the A.I.'s are responsible for Nia, in one way another, not just _you_," he scolded.

"But…"

"One even sacrificed his life so I could get her to safety!" Zen continued as though Jax had not spoken. "Not to mention the fact that I almost got ripped to shreds. But do I get a "thank-you"? Oh, no! I get yelled at and blamed for this whole mess."

"I do not blame you for everything," Jax defended, "just for bombing the place."

"I did what I had to do to stop that beast from getting to her. You would have done the same." Zen affirmed. The other robot wanted to protest, but could not find the words because he knew that the garden-keeper was right. The problem was that Jax did not want to admit it.

"I was upset," was all he could bring himself to say.

Zen scoffed, but he was grinning when he did it. "Oh, come off it. You were venting and you know it. You are so human!"

Jax sat up straight in his seat and his mouth fell open, mortally offended. However, he was interrupted before he could fire back.

"You say _that_ like it's a bad thing," moaned a familiar voice and two sets of robot eyes shot to the stirring female on the bed. Zen found his voice first.

"Nia! You are awake. Are you all right?"

She nodded, then moved a hand to her pounding forehead. She looked at Zen with concern in her honey-brown eyes. "Are _you_ okay?"

He smiled broadly. "I am a machine. I can be easily repaired."

Nia would have laughed, but her head felt like a train was running through it. "Did anyone get the license plate of that zoo-morph that ran me over?"

Zen got the yarn and chuckled. "Yes, she is fine," he declared merrily.

"I was not expecting you to wake up so soon," Jax admitted. "Are you in a lot of pain?"

"Shhh, stop shouting!" she reprimanded him although the robot had not raised his voice. Zen stifled another laugh.

"I can give you something for that, but it will eventually cause you to fall asleep again." Jax offered, ignoring the rebuff. The woman shut her eyes and tried to push the pain to the back of her mind but to no avail.

"Sleep…yeah, sleep would be good," she replied and her guardian rose from his chair to go to a kitchen cabinet. Nia opened her eyes and looked at Zen.

"Is it dead?"

"You do not remember killing it?"

Her eyes widened in shock. "I killed it?"

The robot nodded his head enthusiastically.

"How?"

Zen was about to tell her but he was cut off.

"Since you are about to explain anyway, start from the beginning," Jax suggested, sitting down in his chair with a hypodermic needle in his right hand.

"Can we say _oral_ medication?" Nia quipped glancing at the needle hesitantly. Jax smiled at her, but gave her the shot anyway. Zen began to relate his side of the incident up until the time he found Nia standing in the doorway of the main entrance. She then backtracked and explained what lead up to her being there. Jax was visibly upset that she had gotten out of bed, but he did not interrupt.

Next she explained everything that happened until she was shoved into her room, then Zen took over because that was where her memory blurred. When the narrative ended Nia braced herself for the tongue-lashing that was sure to come, but Jax only stared at her, his expression unreadable.

"I'm sorry, Jax," the woman said sincerely when the silence dragged on too long for her liking. "I'm sorry I broke my promise and got out of bed. I'm sorry that I did not stay put after Zen locked me away in here and I'm sorry I put my baby in danger _again_."

Suddenly the robot's face brightened into a smile. Nia glanced to Zen in confusion and found the same look on his face.

"What?" she asked, turning back to Jax.

"Once more you have said 'my baby'," he informed her and she sighed with relief. "And after hearing the full story from you both I honestly believe that you did everything necessary to save your baby's life," he added.

"And mine," Zen threw in. "Though technically I am not alive."

Nia was staring from one to the other in slight disbelief. "I gotta' admit, Jax. I was not expecting you to take this so well."

"What were you expecting?"

"I was expecting you to tear me a new one," she confessed.

Jax frowned in perplexity. "Tear you a new what?" he asked and Zen and Nia burst out in laughter.

"Nevermind," she said. "I'm just glad you aren't mad at me."

"And I am glad that you are okay."

"What about me?" Zen piped up, looking hopefully at Jax, who smirked.

"No comment," he replied dryly and Nia laughed. Zen's face fell.

"You're doing a whole lot better than Gab, remember?" she said to the gardener and he nodded in agreement.

"Who is that?" Jax asked and his counterpart called out the model number of the A.I. that fought the xeno at the main entrance and how his name was derived.

"I take offense to that. _I_ am Nia's guardian angel," Jax clarified.

"What you are, is _jealous_," Zen corrected and received a dirty look from the other robot.

"Help me with the covers," Nia requested of Jax, trying to stave off another brawl. The medicine was kicking in and she wanted to snuggle under the sheets before she fell asleep again. She moved over to allow Jax to pull back the flat sheet while Zen fluffed up her pillows.

"No fighting while I'm asleep," she pleaded when she was comfortable underneath the covers, looking from one to the other. Then she smiled brightly, "Wait until I wake up so I can join in."

Zen got the joke and laughed. Jax, however, didn't think it was funny and he tossed the other robot a "get out" look. When his eyes fell back on Nia, though, she was sound asleep.


	16. Chapter 16

Hi, guys! See, your wonderful patience has paid off, two more chapters for your perusal. Thanks for all the reviews, even the "would you hurry up and update…you crackhead!" ones. That tells me you guys are on the edge of your seat and are dying to know what's going to happen next. We writers and I use that title loosely ; love to know that you like our work, even if you're saying it in a roundabout, threatening way.

Oh, just for the record, I would have had these chapters up last weekend, but I fell "ILL". And I like to give a special shout-out to Bastet, Queen of the Cats (CatQueen). I've been blowing up her email for the past couple of weeks. Thanx for everything Bastet!

Okay, no more jabbering…read and enjoy!

ILL

Chapter 16

Two weeks later…

Nia was sitting up in bed with pillows propped behind her back and under her bare feet. Her mini-comp was at her side and she was watching one of her favorite action movies on it while she munched from a bowl filled with heavily buttered popcorn. Most of her burns, bumps and bruises from the xeno attack had healed thanks to Zen's "magic potion". Her hand was still bandaged though, as that wound was far worse than the others.

The baby had had several growth spurts since the xenomorph incident. Thankfully Jax headed them off and rendered Nia unconscious so there were no tantrums for him to deal with. She was approximately five months pregnant and she had the belly to prove it. Her guardian was bumping around in the kitchen cleaning and straightening, but he suddenly stopped what he was doing and crossed the room to the bed.

"I would like to do a quick sonogram check on the baby," he said to Nia and she rolled her eyes from the screen of her mini-comp to his face, her irritation obvious in her expression.

"You just examined me an hour ago," she replied.

"I know, but…you had some very serious injuries and…"

"They've _healed_."

"Well, there may be internal injuries that I could have missed."

"You don't miss, remember?" she reminded, closing her mini-comp and pushing it farther to her right. "This is getting out of hand, Jax. You've checked me morning, noon and night since the attack; you haven't left this room in two weeks; you even stand outside the bathroom door when I take a shower."

"You could slip and fall-"

"You're driving me crazy!"

"He drives everyone crazy. It is in his programming," said a familiar voice. Jax turned around to find his counterpart walking through the main door followed by Prae'tor. Now it was Jax's turn to roll his eyes.

"Zen!" Nia exclaimed, glad for the distraction. She sat her bowl of popcorn on the floor and reached for a towel to wipe her fingers. "I am _so_ glad you're here." He'd only come to visit her a few times since the attack.

The robot smiled gleefully. "You have grown," he noted and she rubbed her swollen abdomen.

"Save me, Zen. Jax is trying to analyze me again."

Zen's gaze moved to the other robot's face in irritation. "What could you possibly be looking for this time? Do you think the xeno injected nanites in her through its drool?"

Nia burst out laughing, but Jax frowned in anger. "I do not have to explain myself to you," he replied hotly, but Zen was unfazed. He stepped further into the room.

"Jax, Nia has done everything you wanted her to do. She has stayed in bed, she sleeps when you want her to, eats when you want her to…" Nia notes that he counts each item off on his fingers as he says them, "…she has allowed you to take blood, urine _and_ follicle samples all without complaint. You even check her a few times while she was sleeping."

Nia's mouth dropped open in shock and her eyes shoot to Jax's face. "You didn't!"

Her guardian scowled at Zen for telling on him, then looked at Nia innocently. "I was just making sure you were okay."

"I was asleep," she replied flatly.

"I wanted to make sure your and the baby's vitals were not in any distress."

Nia was glaring at him hard. "Again…I was asleep."

"It does not hurt to be thorough."

It took everything inside her not to scratch his plasti-metal face with her nails. "I…was…_asleep_!"

Prae'tor interrupted the argument with a growl. Jax whirled around to face him.

"But, I…"

Nia frowned, not understanding what was happening, but she waited knowing all would be made clear. Prae'tor growled again more aggressively. Zen was grinning broadly.

"What?" she finally asked, curiosity getting the better of her.

"Prae'tor says he has to apologize for violating your very important sleep," Zen was happy to fill in.

"He did not say 'very important'," Jax corrected, glowering at the other robot before turning back to Nia. "I did not mean any harm. I only wanted to keep you safe."

Prae'tor snarled.

"All right!" Jax snapped at him then raised his hands in surrender. "I am sorry," he said to Nia after a short silence. "I hope you will not hold my over-protective actions against me."

Her anger was abated. "You were just being you," she said, "but you have to back off for a while with the Dr. Jax persona, okay?"

He nodded in consent.

"_I am sorry…I hope you will not hold my over-protective actions against me…_"

All eyes turn to Zen. He had replayed a recording of Jax's voice, the sound coming out of his own mouth.

"Cool!" Nia said, impressed. Jax, on the other hand, was not so thrilled.

"Why…why…why must you be so _annoying_!" he shouted.

"The Great Jax Robot apologizing," Zen said dramatically, scrolling his right hand through the air, "that was worth recording and hearing again."

Nia laughed loudly while Jax took a dangerous step toward the other robot.

"I have a surprise for you," Zen said, moving away from his counterpart who was bearing down on him with his fists clenched.

"Kill him later, Jax," she requested. "I want my surprise." Her guardian tossed Zen one more heated look, then turned to go back into the kitchenette. Nia watched him, then looked to Zen.

"Well?"

Prae'tor and Zen must have worked out their strategy before they entered the room because the Yaut'ja moved away from the spot where he'd been standing all this time and revealed a third A.I behind him. It was gold-toned, same as Zen, except it had three purple stripes circled around the wrists of both arms.

Nia's forehead crinkled in bewilderment momentarily, then her eyes widened in recognition.

"Gab?"


	17. Chapter 17

ILL

Chapter 17

The third robot bowed from the waist, then stood erect. "Shao'uta. It is good to see that you are unharmed." His voice was very robotic and monotonous.

The shao'uta's mouth was hanging open in shock. "H-how?" she whispered, looking at Zen. "You said he was dead. I thought that meant you couldn't repair him."

"Well, I love a challenge. I have been working on him in my free time since the incident. That is why I you have not seen that much of me. I used up most of our spare parts reserve, especially out of Jax's supply."

"WHAT!" Jax spun and screamed at him, his fists clenched again.

"Quit your whining," he fired back. "I could not take parts from the others. They have heavy duty work to do around the pyramid and may need their supply."

"And I do not do heavy duty work?" Jax spat, gesturing around the room.

Zen scoffed. "Oh, please. You barely break a fingernail with the work you do around here."

"I do not _have_ fingernails!"

"My point exactly," Zen mumbled dryly. Jax growled in frustration, while Prae'tor shook his head from side to side hopelessly.

"I am going to kill you." Jax said, so calmly that it was almost frightening. Before he could attack, however, Nia suddenly rose from the bed and crossed to Gab. Jax quickly calmed down, but he stared at her worriedly. She laid a hand on Gab's forearm, as if she had to touch him to be sure he was real. He glanced down at her hand curiously, not expecting the contact, then raised his eyes back to her face.

"You saved my life. I don't know how to thank you." Seconds later she was in tears. She dropped her hand to her face and wept. Jax was at her side in seconds.

"That is not the reaction I was hoping for," Zen mumbled. His counterpart glared angrily at him.

"Come lay back down," he said to Nia and led her back to the bed. He pulled a tissue from the nice stand beside the bed and handed it to her. She wiped her tear-stained face with it then blew her nose. When the emotion passed she looked up to find her guardian sitting on the bed by her knee. Zen and Gab had moved closer and were standing behind him. Behind them, Prae'tor was leaning forward in his chair. All three of the robots had looks of concern on their plasti-metal faces. Gab spoke first.

"I did not mean to upset you, shao'uta," he apologized.

"I don't know why I'm crying," she confessed, reaching for another tissue. "I guess seeing him again brought up the incident and the fear and…"

"Shhh," Jax hushed her, placing a comforting hand on her knee. "It is all right. You can cry all you like."

Behind him Zen scoffed. "You bedside manner stinks," he mumbled crossing his arms over his chest. The gesture was very humane and Nia smiled. Jax shifted his position on the bed to glare at the gardener.

"Well, what would _you_ like me to do? Remove all our heads and juggle them?"

Zen's brows raised in interest. "Do you think that will make her feel better?" Jax narrowed his eyes at him, but Nia laughed.

"Removing our heads will disconnect the synaptic pathways from our CPU's to our extremities. Juggling will not be possible."

Silence pervaded the room as everyone glared curiously at Gab.

"You are definitely a collection of Jax's parts," Zen pointed out wryly. "No sense of humor whatsoever."

Gab was not offended, but Jax shot him a hot look. Nia burst out laughing.

"Wonderful," her guardian mumbled, rising from the bed, "just what I need, one more idiot robot hanging around to drive me crazy."

Nia laughed harder.

"Idiot…" Gab repeated, "…a foolish or stupid person…a person of profound mental retardation, unable to learn speech or guard against common dangers…no longer in use…" His eyes were shifting, but they stopped and settled on Jax. "This term does not describe any of us."

Zen grinned broadly as Nia laughed even harder. "I take that back. He does have a sense of humor, albeit a dry one." He clapped Gab on the back.

Jax smirked in annoyance at the two of them as he wondered back over to the bed. "What would you like to eat, Nia? I am certain all of this tomfoolery-" he tosses Zen a knowing look, "-has made you hungry."

Nia quit laughing immediately when the subject changed to food.

"Pizza!" she exclaimed, then proceeded to name the various toppings she wanted on it.

"Whatever you like," Jax said cheerfully, then looked at Zen. "Go get started."

Zen's eyes widened. "What! Why do I have to do it?"

"Because I told you to." Jax nodded toward the kitchenette.

"But…I…I do not even know where to begin."

"Look it up," the other replied flatly. He wore a big smile because he'd finally gotten the upper hand.

Zen groaned in agitation, but headed toward the tiny kitchen. "Set off two little Molotov bombs and suddenly I get bumped down to robot chef," he whined. Nia chuckled behind her hand. Jax watched to make sure he was indeed doing what he had been told then turned to his charge.

"It may take a while for your pizza to finish baking," Jax mentioned. "Let me give you a quick examine in the meantime."

Nia rolled her eyes. "No, Jax. For heaven's sake! Didn't we just go through this?"

"Can I check you _after_ lunch?"

"No more examines, Jax!" she snapped. "The only subject I'm going to discuss with you is dessert." Jax sighed in exasperation.

"My database states dessert is generally consumed after the evening meal." Gab clarified in that robotic voice that Nia was slowly getting used to. "According to my chronometer, you will soon be eating the noon meal." Again everyone stared at him like he had three heads.

"Thank-you, Gab," Nia sang, shaking her head hopelessly.

"You are welcome, shao'uta."

Nia shook her head again as she swung her feet to get out of bed. "I gotta' pee," she said to Jax and hurried to the bathroom, one hand on the small of her back for balance. Jax watched her until the door closed behind her, then he went to the kitchen to oversee Zen's progress. It wasn't long before the two of them started arguing. Gab decided to slip into a vacant chair at the table and wait to be needed. Prae'tor sat all the way back in his chair and relaxed now that the emotional fit had ended.

Ten minutes later, Nia came out of the bathroom and as she stepped out a gonging sound reverberated through the room, jarring Prae'tor, who had nodded off, awoke. He sat up with a jerk and looked as though he was about to charge something.

"What in the world is that?" Nia asked Jax, frowning at the tensed up Yaut'ja curiously.

"On your world it is called a doorbell," the robot replied from the kitchenette. "Unfortunately you have never heard it before because _some_ robots believe their importance is to illustrious to use it."

Zen glared angrily at his counterpart, knowing exactly whom he was referring to.

"I'll get it!" Nia offered and scurried over to the door before anyone could stop her. The main entrance hissed open when she reached it and wafts of orange/white fog drifted into the room. When the doors parted, five male Yaut'ja's dressed head to toe in traditional hunting armor, were standing on the other side.

Nia's eyes bucked. She gasped in fear and stepped back two paces.

"JAAAAAAAAAAAAXXXX!"

Poor Nia. She just can't stay out of trouble can she? ;

Oh, well, now she's got three guardians, so maybe she'll be all right. Then again, maybe not. Have I got your interest yet? Hope so. Okay, now, back to your normal routines…but don't forget to review! Love you guys! Take care!


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